LIBRARY OF FATHERS
HOLY CATHOLIC CHTJKCH,
ANTERIOR TO THE DIVISION OF THE EAST AND WEST.
TRANSLATED BY MEMBERS OP THE ENGLISH CHURCH.
TET SHALL NOT THY TEACHERS BE REMOVED INTO A CORNER ANY MORE, BUT
THINE EYES SHALL SEE THY TEACHERS. Isaiah XXX. 20.
SOID BY
JAMES PARKER & CO., OXFORD,
AKD 377, STRAND, LONDON;
RIYINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON,
HIGH STREET, OXFORD, AND TRINITY STREET, CAMBRIDGE.
1874.
TO THE MEMORY
OF THE
MOST REVEREND FATHER IN GOD
WILLIAM
LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,
PRIMATE OF ALL ENGLAND,
FORMERLY REGIUS PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD,
THIS LIBRARY
OF
ANCIENT BISHOPS, FATHERS, DOCTORS, MARTYRS, CONFESSORS.
OF CHRIST'S HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH,
UNDERTAKEN AMID HIS ENCOURAGEMENT, AND CARRIED ON FOR
TWELVE YEARS UNDER HIS SANCTION,
UNTIL HIS DEPARTURE HENCE IN PEACE,
IS
GRATEFULLY AND REVERENTLY
INSCRIBED.
COMMENTARY
ON
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO S. JOHN
BY
S. CYRIL
ARCHBISHOP OP ALEXANDRIA.
YOL. I
S. JOHN I— VIII
SOLD BY
JAMES PARKER & CO., OXFORD,
AND 377 STRAND, LONDON ;
RIVINGTONS, WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON,
HIGH STREET, OXFORD, AND TRINITY STREET, CAMBRIDGE.
MDCCCLXXIY.
PREFACE.
8. Cyril Archbishop of Alexandria was well-nigh
the last of that bright array of Greek Fathers which
shone throughout all the fourth century and into the
fifth. His powerful and comprehensive mind, well
read and strengthened by study of Greek Heathen
lore (as his frequent citations not only of Homer
but even of the less known poets and his very lan-
guage indicate), fostered by the works of his great
predecessor S. Athanasius and aided by the living in-
fluence of S. Isidore Abbat of Pelusium, whom even
when he had become Archbishop he still called father,
his single-hearted loyal piety which every writing of
his breathes forth, his will formed for rule, combined
with the perception of the points that he could yield
without betraying Truth : — all gave him during his
life an influence such as no other man of his time
had, and his writings were appealed to for centuries
after on matters of dogma. In the Council of Chal-
cedon, holden a few years after S. Cyril's death, some
exception was at first taken by some of the Bishops
to two or three expressions of Pope S. Leo, and these
wore afterwards unanimously accepted on being found
to agree with what S. Cyril had written. In the 6th
General Council, passages from this very Commen-
Vlll
PREFACE.
tary were cited against Monothelism (pp. 384, 385,
387 of this volume and a piece of the lost book 8 on
chap. xii. 27, 28). Some thirty years after S. Cyril's
death Gennadius in the West, Priest of Marseilles,
giving a brief notice of the Church's great writers,
says of S. Cyril, "He made very many Homilies
„ which the Greek Bishops commit to memory and
,, deliver."
The Commentary on S. John has usually been re-
garded as S. Cyril's great work. Its special value lies
in its being the well-weighed enunciation of dogma
of one whose mind had long and deeply meditated on
the Faith. Our belief on the Holy Trinity, on the
Union of the Godhead and Manhood in Christ, on
the Holy Eucharist * as the means of our Union with
Him, our free-will and consequent reward or Doom,
are clearly and carefully stated and enforced. That
effect of the Union and intimate relation of the God-
head with our nature in God the Son in imparting
to the whole of our clay a new quickening life and
strength, which has been so strikingly brought for-
ward by a deep thinker in our day 2 , will be found
frequently spoken of in this Commentary as one of
the results of the Incarnation.
1 See the citations from this and his other works in full in Dr. Pusey's
"The Real Presence the Doctrine of the Ancient Church/' pp. 615 —
664.
2 O wisest love ! that flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail
Should strive anew against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail;
And that an higher gift than grace
Should flesh and blood refine,
God's Presence and His very Self
And Essence all Divine.
PEEFACE.
IX
On the Procession of God the Holy Ghost S. Cyril's
teaching is identical with the words we now repeat,
Who proceedeth from the Father and the Son. The
Creed as then laid down said only, Who proceedeth from
the Father, and S. Cyril himself habitually used, not
the Creed as we now have it and as it was enlarged
in the Council of Constantinople, but the original
Nicene Creed which ends at the words, And in the
Holy Ghost. Yet his teaching is identical with what
we now say. Throughout this Commentary (pp. 80,
106, 108, 111, 145, 251, 436, 438 &c.) S. Cyril says
that the Holy Ghost is the Spirit, the own Spirit
of the Son. In page 436, S. Cyril uses the remarka-
ble words, As He calls Himself Son of man, since He
ivas made Man, so again He calls Himself Spirit from
His Own Spirit: for not Other than He is His ownSpirit.
S. Cyril's teaching is uniform throughout his wri-
tings. Other passages of the same kind are collected
in the Appendix to my father's Sermon, The Re-
sponsibility of Intellect in matters of Faith, Oxford,
1873. To him too is due the Theological portion of
this Preface and in especial the bracketted portion
pp. xxi to end is wholly his.
a. Seeing He [the Holy Spirit] is the Spirit of
God the Father and the Son also_, Which is poured
forth essentially from Both, i. e., from the Father
through the Son.
b. For in that the Son is God and of God by Na-
a. ei irep ear\ rov ©eot) /cat, Tlarpos ical firjv ical rod Tlov
to ov(riG)$6o<; i£ afA<poiv rjyovv etc Tlarpos oV Tlov irpo^eofievov
Uvev/u,a 1 .
?>. f) jj.lv yap ecTTi ®eo? KaX i/c ®eov Kara (pvaiv 6 TtoV ye-
1 De Ador. lib. i. Opp. i. 9.
X PREFACE.
ture (for He is truly begotten of God the Father)
the Spirit is His Very Own and in Him and from
Him just as is conceived as to God the Father.
c. He said that He would baptize in fire and the
Holy Ghost, infusing into the baptized no Spirit
alien to Himself in manner of a servant and minis-
ter, but as being by Nature God with supremest
authority [He infused] the Spirit Which is from
Him and His Very Own.
In the explanation of his xii Chapters against
NestormSj which explanation was written at the re-
quest of the Council of Ephesus
d. The Only-Begotten Word of God made Man
hath remained thus too God, being all that the Fa-
ther is save only being the Father, and having as
His own the Holy Ghost Which is of Him and Essen-
tially inexisting in Him.
In the Thesaurus, a work elaborated with very
great care and precision for the Defence of the Faith
yivvqrai yap akrjOcos e/c rov ©eoi) /cal Uarpo?' iStov avrov
koX iv auTcS T€ zeal ef avrov to Hvevfid iart, KaQdirep dfiekei
/cal eV avrov voelrai rov &eov /cal naTpo? 2 .
c. avrov ecpr) ftairrlZeiv iv rrvpl /cal 'Aylqy Uvev/xari, ov to
dWorptov rots fiaTTTi^o/jLevoi*} ivikvra irvev/xa 8ovXo7rpe7rS)^
teal vTrovpyi/cws aX)C a>9 ®ebv Kara <f>vo-iv fjuer iifovcrias tt}9
dvoirdrco to itj avrov re real cBiov avrov 3 .
d. "Avd panto? ye<yova><} 6 M-Ovoyevrj? rod ®eov A0709 drro-
fjue/Jbevrjice ical ovrco ©eo?, rrdvra vrrdp^oav ocra koX 6 TLarrjp
hl^a fiovov rov elvai TJarrjp, teal iSiov eywv rb if; avrov /cal
ovo-LwBu><i ifiirecjiVKos avrw Tlvev/xa "Ayiov 4 .
2 In Joelem ii. 28, 29. Opp. iii. 228.
3 De Recta fide ad Theodosium Imperatorem Opp. v. ii. 33. S. Cyril
put forth this same treatise again in a more popular form, De Incarna-
tione Unigeniti, where the words again occur. Opp. v. i. 706.
4 Expl. cap. ix. Opp. vi. 154, 155.
PREFACE.
XI
as regards the Persons of the most Holy Trinity, un-
der the title —
e. That the Holy Ghost is of the Essence of the
Father and the Son.
Since therefore the Holy Ghost coming to be in
us makes us conformed to God and He goeth forth
from the Father and the Son, it is manifest that He
is of the Divine Essence, being Essentially in It and
going forth from It : even as the breath too which
goeth from the mouth of man, though the illustra-
tion be poor and unworthy, for God will surpass all
things.
A few pages before there is another heading
/. That the Spirit is God and hath every way the
same operation with the Son and is not alien from
His Essence : also that when God is said to dwell
in us it is the Spirit Who indwelleth.
And further on
g. Since Christ givethlaws, the Spirit as being by
Nature in Him and of Him, Himself too is Lawgiver.
e. on e/c rrjs oucr/a? tov Uarpo? /ecu tov Tlov to Tlvevfia
to " Ay tov .
ore Tolvvv to TLvev/xa to " Ayiov ev r)p!iv yevbfievov
<rvfifwp<f>ov<; tjfias diroSeiKvvei (deov, irpoeicri Se e/c HaTpo?
teal T'tov, 7rp68rj\ov oti Trjs Betas ecrTiv overtax, ovcri(oho)<i ev
avrfj bv icai i% avrrj<; irpolov &o~7rep ovv dfieXei icai rb e£
avtipfotreiov crrofiaTOS eKrpe^ov ifMpvari/jLa, el icai pu/epbv /cat
ovk a%iov tov \6yov to vrrbheiyu.a, irdvra yap vrrepe^ei ©eo<? 5 .
/. oti ®eo<? to JJvevfia /cal ttjv avTrjv evepyeiav e^ov tg> T/g5
rravrayov koi ovk aTre^evw/Jiivov Tfjs ovcrt'a? avrov, b/xov he
ZtZa/TKOvcnv ort ©eoO \eyopuevov /caroi/ceiv ev rj/uiv, to Tlvevfid
iim TO eVOlKOVV 6 .
g. vofioOeTovmos Toiyapovv tov Hpiarov, &><? ev avra> /cat
i$ avrov <f>vo-i/C(o<; virapyov to Tlvevfia avTo vopboOereV.
' J Thes. Opp, v. i. 345.
lb. 338.
? lb. 354.
XU PREFACE.
h. Since when Christ reneweth us and transplac-
eth us into a new life, the Spirit is said to renew us as
is sung in the Psalms to God, Thou shalt send forth
Thy Spirit and they shall be created and Thou shalt
renew the face of the earth, we must of necessity con-
fess that the Spirit is of the Essence of the Son.
For as being by Nature of Him and being sent by
Him upon the creation, He worketh the renewal,
being the Complement of the Holy Trinity. And
if so, the Spirit is God and of God and not a crea-
ture.
In the De Trinitate, a work whose scope is the
same as that of the Thesaurus but its execution more
popular and less dialectic, and a work to which S.
Cyril refers in his Commentary on S. John pp. 87 C
94C(pp. 100, 108 O.T.)
i. He sent us the Comforter from Heaven through
Whom and in Whom He is with us and dwelleth in
us, not infusing into us an alien, but the own Spirit
of His Essence and of that of His Father.
h, ovtcovv eTrelirep dvatcaLvLZpvTOS rjfias rov Xpi<rrov ical
els veav fieTaTiOevTOs £a)r)v, to Yivevfia dvaKaivi^ew Xeyerat
Kara to ev tya\p,ois dhofievov cu? 7rpo9 Seov "'E£a7rocrreA,ei9
" to Tlvevfxd crov tcai tCTiarOrjaovTai real dvatcaiviels to irpb-
(( ctwttov Trj? 7779," avarytcn to Tlvevpa rr\<$ ovalm virdpyeiv
dfioXoyelv tov Tlov. &>9 <ydp e'f avTov Kara <pvaiv virdp^ov teal
eirl ttjv KTiaiv trap avTov ireprtTb^evov tov dvatcaivto-fibv
ip<yd%€Tai, crvfiTrXTjpoofia T779 ayim \mdpyov TpuiBos. el 84
tovto, ©eo9 apa teal itc ©eoO to Uvev/xa, teal ov iroir\p,a 8 .
i. €Trep,yfre 8e r]pXv i£ ovpavov tov TIapdteXwTov 81 ov teal
ev a> ixedf ^/jlcov eo~Ti teal ev rj/jblv avXl^erai, ovtc oOvelov rjfiiv
e<y%ec0v dXXd to T779 ovalas avTov teal T779 tov HaTpo9 avTov
thiov UvevfMa 9 ,
8 Thes. Opp. v. i. 358. The trifling variations from Aubert's text in
these passages of the Thesaurus are from a Manuscript in the Library
of the Patriarch of Alexandria at Cairo. These passages are likewise
extant in a Syriac translation, in the ms. in the British Museum Addi-
tional 14556, assigned by Dr. Wright to the sixth or seventh century.
9 De Trinitate vii. Opp. v. i. 642.
i •
f :•
! i
PREFACE.
Xlll
Again in reply to the words objected
k. But they say that Christ said of Him, Of Mine
He shall receive and tell it to you. They say there-
fore the Spirit is participant of the Son.
S. Cyril says
Not at all, far from it : for how should the Spirit
that is both of Him and in Him and His Very Own
partake of Him and be sanctified relatively like those
things which are without and be by nature alien
from Him Whose very Own Ho is said to be ?
In his great Synodic Epistle to Nestorius which
has the sanction of the (Ecumenical Council of Ephe-
sus, S. Cyril says
I. For even though the Spirit exists in His Own
Person, and is conceived of by Himself in that He
is Spirit and not Son, yet is He not therefore alien
from Him, for He is called the Spirit of Truth and
Christ is the Truth and He is shed forth from Him
just as from God the Father.
There follow three passages from the great Com-
mentary on S. John. The first is on p. 145 of this
volume.
l\ w\rjv itcelvo (paaiv on Xpio-rb? e^r} wepl avrov 'E/c rov
ifiov^ XrjtyeraL Kal dvayyeXel vpZv. peroyov ovv apa j>aal ro
Tlvevfxa rov Tiov.
tt/aard ye, woWov ye oificu /ecu 8ec. rb yap e% avrov Te Kal
ev avrco Kal Ihiov avrov wa><; av avrov fieraXd-^oi wcowore Kal
ev loy rois dvpadev o~xeriKO)<; dyid&Lro Kal dXKorpcov earai
Kara fyvaiv ov Kal Xhiov elvai \eyer at 1 ;
I. el yap Kal eariv ev vwoardaei ro Hvev/ma I&ikjj Kal
op Kal voelrai Ka(F eavrb KaOb livevpbd icrri Kal ovx Tior
aXX ovv ecrnv ^ ovk dXXorpiov avrov' Hvev/xa yap dXrjOeia?
wvofmarac,^ Kal eariv Xpiarbs r) aXrjOeia- Kal wpoyelraL wap
avrov Kaddwep d/jbeXet Kal e'/c rov ©eoO Kal Uarpos 2 .
1 lb. 657. 2 S. Cyrilli Epistolae p. 74. Opp. v. ii.
b
XIV
PREFACE.
m. How shall we separate the Spirit from the Son,
thus inexisting and essentially united, Who cometh
forth through Him and is by nature in Him, that
It cannot be thought to be Other than He by reason
both of identity of working and the very exact like-
ness of Nature ? . . . The blessed Paul having called
Spirit of Christ That which dwelleth in us forthwith
subjoined, If Christ be in you, introducing an entire
likeness of the Son with the Spirit Who is His very
own and is by nature poured forth from Him.
n. For since He is the Spirit of Christ and His mind,
as it is written, which is nought else but what He
is, in regard to identity of nature, even though He be
both conceived of and is existent, He knows all that is
in Him. And Paul will be our witness saying, For who
hnoweth the things of man save man's spirit that is in
him? thus the things of God too none hnoweth save the
Spirit of God. Wherefore as knowing what is in the
counsel of the Only-begotten, He reporteth all things
to us, not having the knowledge thereof from learn-
ing, that is ; that He may not seem to fill the rank
of a minister and to transmit the words of another
m. riva Brj obv rporrov aTro/xepiovfiev rb Tlvevfia rov Tlov,
rb ovra><; epL7re<pvKb$ real ovo-icoBcbs rjvcop,evov, Bi avrov re nrpo-
KinrTov zeal virdp^pv iv aura) cpvo~iK(o<;, to? p.wBev erepov elvat
vop,i%e<r6ai Trap* avrbv, Bid re rrjv rrj<i ivepyeias ravrorrjra real
avrb rb rrj<; <pvcrea)<5 arrapdWatcTov ; teal yovv 6 p,aica-
pios HavXos .... Uvevfia X/hcttoO to KarotKovv iv f)pZv ovo-
[iaaa<s, irrrjyayev evOvs Et Be 6 X/otcTo? iv v/mv, dirapdXkaKrov
elcr<pipa>v rrjv 6p,oi6rr)ra rov Tlov 7rpo<? rb iBiov avrov Kal Trap'
avrov Kara cpvcriv rrpo^eop^evov TIvevp,a s .
n. i'TreiBrj <ydp icrri Uvevpia Xpcarov ical vovs avrov, Kara.
to yeypap,p,ivov, oi>% erepov re 'Trap' avrbv bv, Kara ye rov iv
ravrorrjrt (pvaiKrj \6yov, Kalroi voovpuevbv re Kal vrrdp^ov
IBloos, olBe Trdvra ra ev avrS. Kal p,aprvprjaei Xeycov 6
n<xt)\.09 " Tt<? yap olBe ra rov dvdpdorrov, ei fjbrj to rrvevp-a
" rov dvOpcorrov ro bv iv avru> ; ovrat Kal rd rov %eov ovBel<;
" eyvcoKev, el pur) rb VLvevpua rov &eov." ovkovv, a><? eiBbs rd
iv rfj f3ov\rjO-ei rov WLovoyevovs, Trdvra yjiuv dvayyeXkei, ovk
£k fiad^crecof e^ov rrjv etBrjaiv, I'va p/q (fialvrjrao BiaKovov rd£iv
3 In S. Johannem lib. ii. t. iv. 126.
PREFACE.
XV
but as His Spirit and knowing untaught all that
belongeth to Him of whom and in whom He is, He
revealeth to the Saints the Divine mysteries ; just as
man's mind too knowing all things that are therein
ministereth externally by uttered word the desires
of the soul whose mind it is, seen and named in idea
something different from it [the soul], not other by
nature, but as a part complemental of the whole,
existing in it and believed to be born from it.
o. For for this cause He hath added that He shall
tell you the things also to come, all but saying, This
shall be a sign to you that the Spirit is full surely of
My Essence and is so to speak My Mind, that He
shall tell you the things to come even as J
For not surely as I would He foretell the things to
come, were He not surely both existent in Me and
going forth through (oV) Me and of the same es-
sence with Me.
The last one is a short extract from a homily in
S. Luke only extant in a Syriac translation.
aTTOtrXripovv, ical row erepov rv%bv SiairopOfievav \6yov<},
aXX,' 009 TLvev/jba avrov, KaOdirep aprta)? elprJKa/jiev, ical el&o?
a8i8a.KT(o<; rrdvra rd ii; ov ical iv (prrep eari, rd Oela rois
dyiois diroKaXvirret /jLvarfjpca, Kaddirep d/nekei koX 6 dvdpd>-
ttlvo^ vovs irdvra yivcoaKOiv ra iv avra>, hiaKovel irpbs to ef&>,
\6yw rvybv rS 7rpo(j>opiK(p, rd 6eXr)fiara rr)s "^rv^i]^, ^? eari
/cal vow, erepov p,ev ri Trap avrrjv rais eTrivoiais opcojievo?
re /cal 6vofia£6p,evo<;, erepov he Kara fyvaiv ovk (ov, aXX' a>?
fiopiov rov 7ravrb<i CTV^TTKnqpoartKov, iv avrfj re brrdpypv, Kal
i% avrrj? dvacjivecrOat iria-revopuevov 4 .
0. Ata <ydp rot rovro irpocrreOeiKev ore Kal rd ip^o/xeva
dvayyeXel v/xiv, p,ovovov)(l Xeyoov "Zrj/xelov rovro earai vfitv,
on 8r) Travrcos €K rr)<; i/xrjs overlap rb Tlvevpbd iari, Kal olov
e'/i6? iari vovs, rb ipelv avrbv rd iaopueva, KaOdirep iyoa-
7rpoeip7]Ka yap, el Kal pbr) Be&vvijade irdvra /iiadetv ovk dv
ovv dpa KaOdrrep eyd> rrpoepeZ rd eoSfieva, /htj ov^i rrdvr(0<i
iv ifiol re inrdp^ov Kal 81 ifiov rrpoibv, Kal rr)<; avrr)<; ovaias
vTrap'Xpv efiot •
* lb. lib. x. 837.
b 2
lb. 926.
f-i
■Ml
XVI
PREFACE.
M =
p. Nor liad He [the Word Incarnate] need of the
Holy Ghost ; for the Spirit that proceedeth from
God the Father is of Him and Equal in Essence with
Him 6 .
From the Index to this Volume the following ex-
tracts are subjoined illustrating this subject
God the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Son 80, 106,
108, 111, 143, 145, 251, 436, 438, 547, 548, 550,
552, reveals Christ because the Spirit of Truth 402,
not other than the Son though He have His own
existence 436, 438, inseparable from the Son 438,
inexistent in Him even as in the Father 547, His
and in Him and through Him 548, essentially of
His nature and His own 552. In the other part of
the Commentary are seven passages in which St.
Cyril calls the Holy Ghost " the Spirit of the Father
and the Son," once he calls Him " the own Spirit of
the Father and the Son," three times says that "He
proceedeth from the Father through the Son," five
times that " He is in the Son and goeth forth from
the Son," and seven times that " He is the Spirit
of Truth as being the Spirit of Christ Who is
Truth." Cf. I. p. xiii., and q. p. xvii.
The Nestorian controversy occasioned S. Cyril to
bring out prominently that, although the Holy Spirit
was given without measure to our Lord as Man, and
He wrought His wonderful works by It, yet It was
His very own Spirit as God, which was given to Him
as Man ; and that He Himself gave It from Himself,
as being eternally His own, "sending It forth from
His own fulness ( e '£ ISlov irX^pdyfiaro^) even as the Fa-
ther too doth." Thus then what is called the tem-
poral Procession is a proof of the Eternal. The tem-
poral Procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father
6 Horn, in S. Lucam xi. Vol. 1. p. 46. English translation.
PREFACE.
xvu
and the Son is one and the same, because He is eter-
nally by nature the Spirit -of Both. This is very
clearly stated and illustrated in the 3 former chapters
of his fourth Book against Nestorius.
q. For He [the Word Incarnate] was confessedly
glorified, when the Spirit wrought the Divine signs
[our Lord's miracles on earth] : yet glorified not as
a God-clad man, gaining this from a Nature foreign
to Him and above Him (as we too do) but rather as
using His own Spirit, for He was God by Nature,
and not alien to Him is His Spirit Belonging
to Him then and of Him is His Spirit; and a clear
demonstration hereof will be that He can bestow
It on others too and that not of measure, as the
blessed Evangelist saith (S. John iii. 34). For the
God of all measured to the Saints the grace through
the Spirit .... but our Lord Jesus Christ putting
forth the Spirit out of His own fulness even as the
Father too doth, giveth it not as by measure to
those worthy to have it When the Comforter
shall come ivhom I will send you from the Father, the
Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father, He
shall testify of Me. Note therefore how the Spirit
q. i8o%d%€TO fxev yap 6{io\oyovp,eva><;, ivepyovvros tov
Uvevfiaros t«9 Oeoo-Tjfilw dXX'ov^ &>? av6pa>7ro<; Oeocpopos,
i% odveias re /ecu VTrepKet/j,evr)<; (pvcrewi to yjprjjxa KepBaivcov
Kada koI spiels, ca? IStco Be p.aX\.ov Ke^pri^evos tg3 Tivev-
fiarc. ®eos yap rjv (pvcrec Kal ovk aXXorpcov avTOv to
Tlvevfia auTov' .... otKoOev ovv apa teal Trap 1 uvtov to Tlvev-
p,a avTov, Kal tovtov cra^r) 1 ? a7r6Sei£t<? eirj av to Kal ctc-
poi,*; Svvaadat %opr]<yelv avTo Kal ovk e'« fjueTpov, Kada (prjcriv
6 fiaKapios evayyeXiaT^' iirefieTprjcre fiev yap tois aylois ttjv
hia tov TIvevfiaTos yapiv 6 twv oXcov ©eoV . . . 6 Be ye Ki^o?
rjfi(t)V Irjaovs XpicrTos ef ISiov irXripo&p.aTO'; 7rpotets to Uvevpa
Ka8a Kal avTo? 6 Harrjp, ov% co? eK /ueTpov BlBaxriv avTo toc<}
al;LOi<; e\eiv. . . . oTav Be e\6rj 6 nrapaKkrjTos ov eyo) 7refityco
vpZv trapa tov HaTpbs, to Tlvevpa t% a\r)9eia<; o irapa,
tov UaTpb? eK-rropeveTai, eKetvos papTvprjaei rrepl e/xov. ad pet
xvm
PREFACE.
which proceedeth from God the Father, this He says
is the own Spirit of the Truth also, and He is I
suppose full surely the Truth : how then, if He be of
a truth not God Incarnate but man rather having
the Divine Indwelling as His Energy, does He pro-
mise to send down on them that believe on Him
the Spirit of God the Father as though it were His
own ? If then thou knowest that to sever the
Spirit from His Divine Nature will be the worst of
crimes and rightly so, His it is plain is the Spirit,
as proceeding through His Ineffable Nature Itself
and Con- Substantial with Him, and He will not need,
as something external and foreign, the power from
Him, but will use Him rather as His own Spirit. . .
and He is not putting Himself outside of being by
Nature God and having the Holy Ghost as His own
. . . For as the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Fa-
ther, being His Spirit by Nature, in the same manner
It proceedeth through the Son also, being His of
Nature and Consubstantial with Him. Hence even if
He be glorified through the Spirit, He is conceived
of as Himself glorifying Himself through His own
Spirit, and this is not anything external even if He
Br) ovv 07ra>5 to rrapa rov ®eov Kal Harpbs eKTropevb[xevov
Uvevfia rovro Kal tj}? dXijdelas 'IBcov elvai <£#9* avrb?
Be ttov rrdvrw? early r) dXtfOeia. elra 7TW9, e'lrrep earlv
aXqdcbs ovk evavOpwrvqcras ©eo9, dvdpamos Be fidXXov rr)v
Beiav ivoiKrjatv &)? ivepyeiav eywv, a>9 tBiov Tlvev/xa rb rov
©eou /ecu Tlarpbs Tot9 7riarevovcriv eh avrov Karaire/jb^jreiv
irrayyeXXerai ; el fxev ovv oicrOa ore rb ajrorefiveiv to
Uvevfia tt}? delays avrov (pvaecos, iyKXrjfidrcov aXo-yiarov ecrj
av /ecu fidXa el/eora)?, avrov BrfXovort rb Yivev/xd icrrtv a>9 6Y
avrrjs rrpolbv rr) 1 ? arroppiqrov (pvcrea)*; avrov ical bfioovcnov avrw,
zeal ovk av eBerjdr) Kaddirep nvbs rr}<; e^coOev re zeal eiTa/cry)*;
Bvvdfieco? rr)<; reap avrov' ypr\aerai Be fidXXov &>9 18(a) Uvev-
fj,art. . . . teal ovk e^co ridels eavrbv rov Kara cpvcriv elvai %ebv
Kal IBiov eyeiv rb UveOfjba rb " Ayiov. . . . wenrep yap rrpoeiaiv
€K rov TIarpbs rb Uvev/xa rb" kryiov, avrov Kara <pvaiv virdpyov,
Kai Kara rov icrov rovrw rpbrrov Kal BC avrov rov Tlov, (pvaiKoos
ov avrov Kal b/xoovaiov ai/rm. ovkovv KavBo^aQqrai Bid rovllvev-
fiaros, avrbs eavrbv a>9 Bi IBiov Uvevfiaros voelrai Bo^d^cov,
Kal 0%)% a>9 Ovpadev to y^prjfia avrw, Kav el bpcoro yeyovws av-
PEEEACE.
XIX
be seen made Man as we ... . For the Flesh was the
Word's own, and this yourself have just confessed
to us (for you said that the Manhood is His and the
Holy Body taken of the holy Virgin is called His
Temple) His again is His Spirit and the Word of
God the Father will never be conceived of without
His own Spirit.
Again in his answer to the Eastern Bishops' objec-
tion to his eleventh chapter occur the remarkable
words,
r. But we must know that (as we said before) it
is the own body of the Word which quickeneth all
things, and because it is the body of life, it is also
quickening (for through it does the Son infuse His
Life into our mortal bodies and undo the might of
Death) but the Holy Spirit of Christ also quickens
us in equal wise, for it is the Spirit that quicken-
eth, as our Saviour Himself says.
These passages are remarkable because S. Cyril is
here not speaking of the relation of the Persons of
the Holy Trinity one with another but assuming that
his readers already know that God the Holy Ghost
is the Yery Spirit of God the Son, he is proving that,
God the Son having been made Man for us, the rela-
0pco7ro<> Ka&" r)jLLa<i rjv fiev yap rj <rap% IBla tov Aoyov, /cal
tovto rjfilv apricot Bcco/jLoXoyrj/cas avrSs' clvtov yap e<p7]s elvav
rrjv avOpwTTOTTjra, /cal vabs avrov Ke^rjfidriKe to i/c t?}? ayias
irapdevov Xr](f>6ev ayiov crcofia' IBiov Be ttoXlv avrov to Hvevfta
avrov, /cal ov/c av voolto Trdoirore Bfya rov IBiov Upev/naro^ 6 e/c
®eov Harpo? A670? 7 .
r. ^IBevav Be avay/calov on /cada (pBao-avre? eiTro/xev, tBiov
e'cTt arwfxa rov ra rravra ^(ooyovovvro^ Aoyov irreuBr) Be eart
crebfia %cor)<i, /cal ^cootvolov icrri' Be avrov yap rocs 6vr)rol<i
rjficbv acofiacriv evirjcrt, rr\v ^corjv 6 T/09 /cal /carapyel rov dava-
rov to /cpa,TO$' ^coottolcI Be rjfias Kara tov laov rpoirov /cal
to " Ay tov Uvevfia XptcrToO' " to yap Tlvevfid iari to £o>o-
7TOLOVV," /cara ttjv avrov tov Xcorrjpo<; (JMovrjv 8 .
? Opp. vi. 98, 99, 102, 104, 105, 106.
8 Apol. adv. Episc. Orient. Cap. xi. Opp. vi. 193 fin.
XX
PREFACE.
tion of God the Holy Ghost to Him remains unaltered
by this.
These extracts give S. Cyril's teaching on this
subject as extant in different works of his. But it may
occur to some to think how we are to know that in
all the bitter controversy about the expression of this
doctrine in which S. Cyril was cited on both sides :
how we are to know that the Greek manuscripts
which preserve to us his writings were not tampered
with through Latin influence. We have proof in
regard to many of his writings. I quoted above his
Thesaurus as extant in the Syriac Manuscript add.
14556 in the British Museum assigned by Dr. Wright
to the sixth or seventh century and therefore anterior
to the controversy. This manuscript contains even the
formal heading, That the Holy Ghost is of the Essence
of the Father and the Son. The citation from his
apology to the Eastern Bishops is likewise extant in
Syriac in the manuscript add. 12156 of the sixth cen-
tury, that from the explanation of the twelve chapters
in the manuscript add. 14557 of the seventh century
which same manuscript also contains the treatise
"De recta fide" addressed to the Emperor Theo-
dosius; and this latter is in a much older version,
one attributed to Eabbula, Bishop of Edessa, who was
a contemporary of S. Cyril. Eor the extracts of the
other works of his cited in this Preface I am not able
to adduce the support of the Syriac. But neither is
it needed : for S. Cyril's teaching is uniform through-
out and it is the clear and explicit teaching of one
who had been instructed in the truth handed down
by those before him and who held, taught and enun-
ciated it as no matter of dry speculation but as living
belief and reality.
PEEFACE.
XXI
It will be observed that in these passages, S. Cyril in
speaking of the procession of the Holy Ghost from
God the Son mainly uses the preposition i K , from (in
b, His very own and in Him and from Him, Ihiov avrov
teal iv avrw re Kal i% avrov ; in c, from Him and His own,
to e'£ avrov re real Ihiov avrov ; in d, of Him and Essen-
tially inexisient in Him, to ef- avrov Kal ovaicohm i/iire<j>v/cb<i
avrS; in e, goeth forth from the Father and the Son,
rrpoeiai €K rrarpbs /cal vlov • in g, in Him and of Him, iv
avra Kal i£ avrov; in h, of Him by Nature, i% avrov Kara
(j)vaiv ; in k, of Him and in Him and His own, ef avrov
re Kal iv avrw Kal ihiov avrov ; in I, from Him rvap avrov ;)
he also uses, in the same sense, the preposition hia,
through (in a, poured forth from the Father through
the Son, eV irarpbs hi vlov rrpoyeb^evov, in m, both coming
forth through Him and in Him by Nature, hi avrov
re rrpoKvirrov koi virdpxov iv avrm ^vaiKw^ ; in q, he uses Boa
twice, as proceeding through His ineffable Nature itself,
ft>9 6Y avrr)$ irpolbv t?}? arropprjrov <£ucree0<? avrov '. as from
the Father so through the Son, i* T o0 rrarpb? koI
hi avrov rov vlov, and irapa once, His own and of Him
Ills bpirit, olmQev Kal rrap avrov rb rrvevpua avrov) .
[ 9 This language of S. Cyril, as well as other lan-
guage on the Procession of the Holy Ghost from the
Son also, is the language of the Greek fathers before
him.
The relation of the Three Divine Persons, Father,
9 The authorities quoted below are furnished by the very learned
and candid dissertation of Petavius " de Processione Sancti Spiritus "
which forms Book vii of his De Trinitate, (Dogm. Theol. ii. 362 sqq.) and
as to the history, from Le Quien Dissertationes DamascenicEefDiss l)
prefixed to his edition of S. John Damascene. E. B. P.
XX11
PREFACE.
Son, and Holy Ghost is laid down for us by our Lord
in the Baptismal formula, nor may we depart from
it, " 10 For we must be baptized, as we have received;
and believe, as we are baptized; and glorify, as we
have believed, Father Son 'and Holy Ghost." The
order of the co-eternal Three must be, as Themselves,
co-eternal. S. Basil says *,
"The Holy Spirit is co-numbered with the Fa-
ther and the Son, because also He is above creation.
And He is placed, as we are also taught in the Gos-
pel by the Lord, saying, ' go, baptize in the name of
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit ;' but he
who places Him before the Son, or saith that He
is elder than the Father, contraveneth the ordaining
of God, and is alien from sound faith, not guarding
the doxology as we have received So that in-
novation as to the order is an annulling of the very
existence, and a denial of the whole faith. For it is
alike ungodly to bring down the Spirit to the crea-
tion, or to place It above Son or Father, either as
to time or order.'"
" 2 The Spirit is co-pronounced with the Lord, as
is the Son with the Father. For the name of Father
and Son and Holy Ghost is spoken in the like way.
As then the Son is to the Father, so the Spirit is to
the Son, according to the order of the word delivered
in Baptism. But if the Spirit is conjoined with the
Son, and the Son with the Father, it is plain that
the Spirit also is [conjoined] with the Father."
The controversy raised by the unhappy Photius not
having arisen, the faith could be expressed in those
varied ways in which S. Cyril expressed it, since all
contained the same truth as to the existence of the
Divine Persons ; that the Father, as the One Source
of Being, everlastingly communicates Himself to the
10 S. Basil Ep. 125. n. 3. Opp. iii. 216.
1 Id. Ep. 52 ad Canon, n. 4. Opp. iii. 146. Petav. de Trin. vii. 6. 3.
2 Id. de Sp. S. c. 17. n. 43. Opp. iii. 36. lb.
PREFACE.
XX111
Son, in that way called Generation, and that that
Being flows on eternally to the Holy Spirit, being
derived originally from the Father, but issuing to
the Holy Ghost from Both, the Father and the Son,
as One. S. Gregory of Nyssa, having met the ob-
jection, that, "if we believe God the Son to be Eter-
nal, we should also believe Him to be Ingenerate or
Unoriginate," by saying that " He ever co- exists with
the ever-existing Father, united by Generation with
the Ingenerateness of the Father ;" says,
' ' 5 So also we speak concerning the Holy Spirit
also, the difference being only in the Order of Being.
For as the Son is conjoined with the Father, and,
deriving His Being from Him, is in no way posterior
to Him in Being, so again the Holy Spirit cohereth
to the Son, Who in thought only is conceived as
prior, by way of causation, to the Hypostasis of the
Spirit ; for extensions of time have no place in the
life before all time, so that, with the exception of
cause, in nothing does the Holy Trinity differ in
Itself."
In another place, he meets the " cavil, that not to
admit a difference [of the Three Divine Persons] as
to nature, involves a confusion of the Persons."
a6 While confessing the unvaryingness of the Na-
tures, we do not deny the difference of ' cause ' and
' caused/ wherein alone we understand that the One
is distinguished from the Other, that we believe
that the One is the Cause, the Other from (e'/c) the
Cause ; and in that which is from the Cause again
we perceive another difference. For the One exists
immediately from the First, the Other through Him
Who exists immediately from the First : so that the
being Only-Begotten remains unambiguously as be-
longing to the Son, without having any doubt that
8 S. Greg. Nyss. c. Eunom. i. fin. Opp. ii. 428. lb. vii. 3. 3.
6 Id. Ep. ad Ablabium. T. iii. p. 27. lb.
XXIV
PKEFACE.
the Spirit is from (eV) the Father, the intermediate-
ness of the Son both preserving to Him the being
Only-Begotten, and not excluding the Spirit from the
natural relation to the Father. But in speaking of
' Cause ' and ' from Cause/ we do not by these forms
designate nature; (for one would not speak of ' Cause '
and 'Nature' as the same) but we point out the
difference in the mode of existence."
He sums up 7 ,
" Speaking of such distinction in the Holy Trinity,
that we believe 'the Cause' and the ' from the Cause/
we can be no longer accused of confounding the
Persons in the community of Nature. Since then
the principle of causation distinguishes the Persons
of the Holy Trinity, setting forth that the one is 'the
Cause/ the other, ' from the Cause ' but the Divine
Nature is, amid every conception, understood to be
immutable and indivisible, therefore properly are
One Godhead and One God, and all the God-beseem-
ing names singularly enunciated."
In these passages the Monarchia on the one side,
and the eternal relation of the Holy Ghost to the
Son, as having His Existence mediately from the Fa-
ther but cohering immediately with the Son, are dis-
tinctly laid down.
S. Gregory of Nyssa is commonly supposed to have
framed the additions to the Creed at the Council of
Constantinople. His contemporaries S. Epiphanius
and Didymus, and his brother S. Basil, express this
relation of the Holy Spirit to the Son by the word
"from." Didymus, the teacher of S. Jerome and
Eufinus, in his work on the Holy Spirit, translated
S. Greg. Nyss. lb. p. 28.
PREFACE.
XXV
by S. Jerome, " 8 explaining the words of our Lord,
He shall not speak from Himself," writes,
"That is, not without Me and the Will of the
Father, because He is inseparable from Mine and the
Father's Will. For He is not of (ex) Himself, but
of (ex) the Father arid Me. For His very Being He
hath from (a) the Father and Me."— "The Holy
Spirit also, Who is the Spirit of truth and the Spirit
of Wisdom, cannot, when the Son speaketh, hear
what He knoweth not; since The Spirit of Truth
proceeding is that Very Being, which is brought
forth from (a) the Son, i. e., proceeding from the
Truth, the Paraclete issuing from (a) the Paraclete,,
God from (a) God."
And on the words " He shall glorify Me, because
He shall take of Mine,"
" 9 Here again, to 'take' is to be understood, so as to
be in harmony with the Divine Nature. For as the
Son, when He giveth, is not deprived of those things
which He giveth, nor, with loss to Himself, imparteth
to others, so also the Spirit doth not receive what He
had not before. For if He receive what before He
had not, when the gift is transferred to another, the
Giver is emptied, ceasing to have what He giveth.
As then above, when disputing of incorporeal na-
tures, we understood, so now too we must know,
that the Holy Spirit receiveth from the Son that
which had been of His own Nature, and that this
signifieth, not a giver and a receiver, but One Sub-
stance. Inasmuch as the Son is said to receive of
the Father, That wherein He Himself subsists. For
neither is the Son ought besides what is given to
Him from (a) the Father, nor is the Substance of the
Holy Spirit other, besides what is given Him by the
Son."
S. Epiphanius no where uses the word "through"
8 De Spiritu Sancto n. 34. translated by S. Jerome Opp. ii. 142. Vail.
Pet. de Trin. vii. 3, 5. 9 lb. n. 36, 37. p. 147.
1
XX Yl
PREFACE.
but always "from" when speaking of the Eternal
Being of the Holy Spirit. And these are no chance
passages of S. Epiphanius, but passages in which he
is carefully stating and guarding the truth as to the
existence of the Holy Trinity. The first is against
the heresy of Sabellius.
" l For the Spirit ever is, with the Father and the
Son, not in relation of brother with the Father, not
begotten, not created, not brother of the Son, not
grandson of the Father, but ever proceeding from the
Father and receiving of the Son : not alien from Fa-
ther and Son, but from (eV) the same Essence, f?'om
(e'/c) the same Godhead, from (e'«) the Father and the
Son, with the Father and the Son, ever subsisting
Holy Spirit, Divine Spirit, Spirit of glory, Spirit of
Christ, Spirit of the Father. For it is the Spirit of
the Father, Who speakeih in you, and My Spirit
standeth in the midst of you, the Third in appella-
tion, equal in Godhead, not alien from the Father
and the Son, The Bond of the Trinity, The seal of
the confession."
And in his elaborate exposition of the faith 2 , which
he partly embodies in his writing against "the blas-
phemers of the Holy Ghost 3 ; "
" 4 The Holy Spirit ever is, not begotten &c, but
from (e/c) the same essence of the Father and the
Son, the Holy Spirit; for God is Spirit." " 5 He
is the Spirit of the Son ; not by any composition,
(as in us, soul and body) but in the midst of the
Father and the Son, from {Ik) the Father and the
Son, the third in appellation.''-' " 6 Whole God is
Wisdom ; so then the Son is Wisdom from Wisdom,
in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom.
Whole God is Life ; therefore the Son is Life from
Life. For c I am the way, the truth and the life/
i S. Epiph. Haer. lxii. n. 4.
8 Haer. lxxiv. 4 Anc, n. 7-
2 Ancorat. Opp. T. ii.
5 lb. n. 8. 6 lb. n. 70.
PREFACE.
XXV11
But the Holy Spirit from Both (irap a/uL^orepcov) is
Spirit from Spirit ; for God is Spirit."
" 7 But some one will say, Do we then say that there
are two Sons ? How then is He Only-Begotten ?
But who art thou, who speakest against God ? For
since He calls Him Who is from Him, the Son, and
That which is from Both, (to Trap ap,<f>0Tepwv) the
Holy Spirit; which being conceived by the saints
through faith alone, being lightful, lightgiving, have
a lightful operation, and by the light of faith are in
harmony with the Father Himself; — hear thou, that
the Father is Father of Him "Who is the True Son,
and wholly Light, and the Son is of True Father,
Light of Light, (not, as things created or made, in
title only) and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth,
the third Light from (rrapa) Father and Son." " 8 As
there are many sons by adoption or calling, not in
truth, because they have beginning and end, and
are inclined to sin, so there are very many spirits by
adoption or calling, although inclined to sin. But
the Holy Spirit is Alone entitled from (airb) the Fa-
ther and the Son, the Spirit of Truth, and Spirit of
God, and Spirit of Christ and Spirit of grace." ff9 If
then He proceedeth from (irapa) the Father; and,
the Lord saith, He shall take of Mine, then in the
same way in which no one knows the Father save the
Son, nor the Son, save the Father, so, I dare to say,
that no one knoweth the Spirit, save the Father and
the Son, from (Trap) Whom He proceedeth and from
Whom He taketh, and neither doth any one know
the Son and the Father, save the Holy Spirit, Who
truly glorifieth, Who teacheth all things, Who testi-
fieth concerning the Son, Who is from (irapa) the
Father and of (4k) the Son." " 10 The Father then ever
was, and the Spirit breatheth from (e'/c) the Father
and the Son, and neither is the Son created, nor is
the Spirit created. But all things, after Father and
Son and Holy Ghost, being created and made, once
not being, came into being from Father Son and
Holy Ghost through the Eternal Word, with the
Eternal Father."
Eunomius argued, that " he had received from the
*Hser. lxxiv. n.
'Anc. n. 72. filled up from Haer. lxxiv. n. 9. 9 Ib. 73.
10 lb. 75.
XXV111
PREFACE.
saints, that the Paraclete was the third in order and
dignity," and therefore he inferred that He was "third
also in nature." S. Basil answers *,
" Was there ever man so bold, introducing novel-
ties into divine doctrines ? For what need is there,
that if the Spirit is third in dignity and order, He
should be in nature ? For the word of godliness
transmits to us, that He is second in dignity from
the Son, having His Being from (trap) Him, and re-
ceiving from (Trap') Him : but that He hath a third
nature, we have neither learned from the Holy
Scriptures, nor can it be inferred as consequent
from the things aforesaid. For as the Son is second
in order from the Father, because He is of (i/c)
Him, and in dignity, because the Father is the Be-
ginning and Cause of His Being, and because the
approach and bringing near to God the Father is
through Him, but He is in no wise second in nature,
because the Godhead in Each is One; so also the Holy
Spirit, although He is subordinate to the Son in order
and dignity, would not therefore be of another na-
ture."
These are doctrinal writers, writing at the period
when the heresy of Macedonius on the Holy Ghost
was rife, and therefore they had the more reason to
be very careful as to what they wrote.
S. Athanasius sets forth the faith as to the Holy
Spirit as that " 2 tradition which had been from the
first, the teaching and faith of the Catholic Church,
!
1 The passage was adduced by the Latins in the Council of Florence,
from a MS. brought from Constantinople by Card. Nicolas Cusanus.
The disputed reading was "in a parchment MS. 600 years before the
Council of Florence and before the commencement of the controversy as
to the Procession of the Holy Spirit" and "other very old books, whose
antiquity is such that any one would own that they are prior to the
schism." John de Turrecremata at the Council and Manuel Calecas
c. 10. in Petav. vii. 3. 16.
2 Ep. i. ad Serap. n. 28. Opp. i. 676. Ben. Petav. Prsef. inTheol. Dogm.
T. ii. p. 6.
PREFACE.
XXIX
i
which the Lord gave, the Apostles preached, the fa-
thers kept." lie sums up,
" s It is shown harmoniously from the Holy Scrip-
tures, that the Holy Spirit is not a creature but the
very own (tBtov) of the Word and of the Godhead of
the Father. For thus is the teaching of the Saints
gathered as to the Holy and Indivisible Trinity, and
this is the one faith of the Catholic Church."
Again he argues it from the relation to the Son,
" 4 If on account of the unity of the Word with the
Father, they will not that the Son Himself should be
one of created things, but think Him, what He is in
truth, the Creator of things made, why do they call
the Holy Ghost a Creature, Who hath the same one-
ness with the Son, which the Son hath with the Fa-
ther ?" And, " The Son saith, ' what I have heard
from the Father, the same I speak unto the world :'
but the Spirit taketh from the Son, He saith, f He
shall take of Mine, and shall shew it unto you/
And the Son came in the Father's Name, but ' the
Holy Ghost/ He saith, ' which the Father shall
send in My Name/ Since then the Spirit hath the
same order and nature to the Son, as the Son hath
to the Father, how shall he who calleth the Spirit a
creature, not, of necessity, think the same as to the
Son V And again, "Such special relation as we
know the Son hath to the Father, such we shall find
that the Spirit hath to the Son."
Even S. Cyril of Jerusalem, who avoided the word
Homoousion, not to give offence, says :
" 5 There is One and the Same Spirit, which sancti-
fieth and subsisteth, and is ever co-present with the
Father and the Son, not being spoken or breathed-
forth from the mouth and lips of the Father or the
Son, not dispersed into the air, but subsisting."
1 lb. n. 32. p. 681. 4 Id. Ep. 3 ad Serap. p. 691. Ben. ap. Petav.
ib. p. 3S4. b S. Cyril Jer. Cat. 17. n. 5. p. 223. Oxf. Tr.
XXX11
PKEFACE.
And, in answer to the question, "why the Spirit was
not the son of the Son,"
"Not that He is not of (e'«) God through (Sl)
the Son, but lest the Trinity should be thought an
endless number, being suspected to have sons from
sons,, as among men."
The question, as well as the answer, implies the
belief in the eternal relation of the Holy Spirit to
the Son ; for without this belief it could not have
arisen, as Bessarion argued, who alleged the passage
in the Council of Florence 4 .
And S. Gregory of Nyssa ;
" 5 We come from the Father through the Son to
the Spirit."
And again, as quoted by Bessarion 6 ,
" The Spirit, being joined to the Father, as Un-
created, is again distinguished from Him, in that
He is not Father, as He is. But from the conjunc-
tion with the Son, as being Unbegotten, and in that
He hath the cause of His Being from God the Fa-
ther, He is distinguished by the property that He
is not from the Father as Only-Begotten, and that
He appeareth through the same Son. And again,
whereas the creation exists through the Only-Be-
gotten, that the Spirit may not be thought to have
any thing common with it, because It appeareth
through the Son, the Spirit is distinguished from
the creation, in that It is unalterable and unchange-
able and needeth no goodness from without."
Bessarion again quoted S. Maximus 7 ;
" For the Holy Spirit, as He is by nature, accord-
4 Orat. Dogm. c. 6. in Cone. Flor. Sess. 25. Cone. T. 18. p. 424 ed.
Col. 5 c. Eunom. L. i. ed. Grets. ap. Pet. vii. 6. 5.
6 c. Eunom. L. i. ap. Bess. p. 428. 7 Bess. 1. c.
PREFACE.
xxxm
ing to substance, God the Father's, so is He the Son's
accordingto substance, proceeding substantially from
the Father through the Son, ineffably Begotten."
This same truth, that, in the language of the writer
known as Dionysius the Areopagite, " 8 the Father is
the Sole Fountain of the Supersubstantial Deity," or
in S. Augustine's, that "Hhe Father is the principle
or beginning of the whole Divinity, or, if it is better
so expressed, Deity;" is also expressed by the phrase
that the Son is ul immediately" (ajxeaws or 7rpo<re%&)<;)
from the Father, the Holy Spirit a2 intermediately"
(e/i/xeoro)?); or that the Father is the principal (^TrpoKar-
apKTLKt]) Cause. But since the Father and the Son are
One, and, in the language of the fathers, "All which
the Father hath are the Son's, except being the
Beginning," then the Son u3 hath this also from the
Father, that the Spirit should proceed from Him
also." Again in S. Augustine's language, "the Holy
Spirit proceeds principially from the Father."
a4 I added ' principially,' because the Holy Spirit, it
appears, proceedeth from the Son also. But this
the Father gave Him, not already existing yet not
having it, but whatsoever He gave to the Only-Be-
gotten Son He gave by begetting. For in such
wise begat He Him, that from Him also should pro-
ceed the common Gift, and the Holy Spirit should
be the Spirit of Both."
Thus far the term preferred and most used by the
great Greek Fathers is the same as that of the West,
from. The later usage is obscure, since we have so
8 T. i. 2. 4. 7- ap. Pet. vii. 17- 8. 9 de Trin. vi. 20. lb.
1 Petav. de Trin. vii. 11. 2 S. Basil de Sp. S. c. 16.
3 S. Aug. c. Maximin. Arian. iii. 14. Pet. vii. 10. 11.
4 de Trin. xv. 17. lb.
XXXIV
PREFACE.
few later Greek writers of eminence. Theodoret, in
his heat against S. Cyril, rejected alike both the from
and the through.
" 5 That he [S. Cyril] says that He (the Holy
Spirit) is ' own Spirit of the Son/ if he means of
the same nature, and proceeding from the Father,
we will assent, and receive his answer as pious, but
if as having His Being from the Son and through the
Son, we shall reject this as blasphemous and im-
pious."
This writing however had no weight in the Eastern
Church, since it was condemned by the 5th General
Council, which, in its origin, was especially a Greek
Council, Pope Vigilius, as is known, at last unwillingly
adhering to it ; and Theodoret rejected alike the for-
mulae 'from ' and ' through. 1
There continue to be traces of the "from" among
Greek writers till A.D. 600, 50 years before S. John
Damascene.
A Sermon attributed by Photius to S. Chrysostome 6 ,
and, it is thought, by some contemporary, has the
words;
"Christ came to us; He gave us the Spirit which
is of Him 7 , and took our body."
Philo Carpathius was a younger contemporary of
S. Epiphanius, and, it is said, much trusted by him.
His words, as occurring in an allegorical interpreta-
6 Confut. Anathem. 9 S. Cyr.
6 Horn, de Incarn. Dom., quoted by Photius cod. 277, as S. Chrysos-
tome's, placed among the "Dubia" by Savile T. v. Horn. 125., among
the "Spuria" by Montfaucon T. viii. App. 213.
7 to i£ airov irvevfJLa. Photius of course leaves out the c£. " Beccus
and Calecas, Savile" and Montf. (App. 224.) "have it." Petav. de
Trin. vii. 3. 19.
PREFACE. XXXV
tion, attest the use of the word "of " beyond the strict
doctrinal writers.
" 8 Themouthof God the Father is the Son. Where-
fore, since He too is God, equal by nature to the
Father, He is called the Word ; since whatever the
Father willeth, He speaketh, createth, frameth and
preserveth through the Son together with that Di-
vine Spirit, Who proccedeth from the Father and
the Son."
Anastasius Sinaita, Patriarch of Antioch, A.D. 561,
to whom all the Eastern Bishops so looked up, that
when urged by the Emperor Justinian to accept his
formula, they answered, that they waited to know
the mind of Anastasius and should follow him, used
it repeatedly.
" 9 Taking the property of the mouth as an illus-
tration, we have expressed the mutual connection
(aWrfkov)(lav) of the Divine Persons through the
analogy and likeness of the members. For thus
the Holy Spirit is said both to be the Spirit of His
mouth, i. e. of God, since the Only-Begotten is the
Mouth ; and again the Spirit going forth from Him,
and sent, not only from the Father, but also from
the Son." "The Lord, shewing that the Spirit is
from Himself, (avrb ef avrov virdpj^eiv) said to His
disciples, breathing upon them, Receive the Holy
Ghost/'
"We call the Father of the Word, Mind, in Whom
is the Word, with Whom is the Holy Spirit, entitled
the Spirit of the mouth of God; for the mouth of
the Father is the Son."
The martyrdom of S. Dionysius the Areopagite in
Symeon Metaphrastes is doubtless from older mate-
rials. It gives additional evidence for the wide-spread
use of the form in the East.
8 Philo Carpath. Comm. in Cant. ap. Pet. vii. 3. 11.
9 Anast. Sinait. de rect. dogm. L. i. Pet. vii. 5. 10, and 3. 19.
XXXVI
PREFACE.
" x And my Christ is raised to the heavens and
returns to His Father's throne, and sendeth on the
disciples the Spirit Who proceedeth from Himself,
to lead aright the unbelieving nations."
Nor at Constantinople had any surprise been ex-
pressed, when Pope Hormisdas in a statement of faith
sent to the Emperor A.D. 519 said,
' ' 2 It belongeth to the Father, that He begetteth
the Son ; it belongeth to the Son of God, that He
is begotten of the Father, equal to the Father ; it
belongeth to the Holy Spirit, that He proceedeth
from the Father and the Son, in the one Substance
of the Godhead."
The most remarkable instance of the continuance of
the form "of the Son" at this period is our great Arch-
bishop Theodore, himself a native of Tarsus, well-
versed, as is shown in his Penitential, in the usages
of the Greek Church, with which he parallels or con-
trasts those of the West. He shews himself also
familiar with the Greek fathers, and the East of his
own day had such confidence in him, that the vi th
General Council waited for him. On Sept. 17 A.D.
680, not quite two months before the opening of
the vi th General Council, Nov. 7, A.D. 680, he pre-
sided over the Council of Hatfield, in which the Con-
fession of faith was drawn up, which embodied the
Filioque.
In it, it is declared ;
ff3 We have expounded the right and orthodox
faith, as our Lord Jesus Christ, incarnate, delivered
to His Apostles who saw Him in bodily presence,
1 Sym. Metaphr. in mart. S. Dionys. init Opp. S, Dionys. ii. 190.
Pet. vii. 3 — 19. 2 Hormisd. Ep. 89. in Le Quien Diss. Damasc.
n. 10. Opp. S. Joann. Damascen. i. p. v.
Quoted from Rev. G. Williams, The Orthodox Eastern Church.
PREFACE.
XXXV11
and heard His discourses and delivered the creed
of the holy fathers; and in general all the sacred
and universal Synods and the whole choir of the
Catholic approved doctors of the Church [have de-
livered it]."
" And then after a brief confession of faith in the
Holy Trinity in Unity, and a recital of the first Five
General Councils, and of the Lateran Council of
A.D. 649, it thus concludes: —
"And we glorify our Lord Jesus Christ as they
glorified Him, adding nothing, taking away no-
thing; and we anathematize in heart and word whom,
they anathematized; we receive whom they received;
glorifying God the Father without beginning, and
His only-begotten Son, begotten of the Father be-
fore the ages ; and the Holy Ghost, proceeding from
the Father and the Son, ineffably; as those holy
apostles and prophets and doctors, whom we above
commemorated, have preached."
The form "from the Son" must however have come
to be disused at Constantinople, since it became a
pretext for those who wished to pick a quarrel with
the West. The Monothelites, having been condemned
by the first Lateran Council under Martin i, A. D.
649, objected to the statement that the Holy Spirit
proceeded from the Son also, but they accompanied
it with the blasphemy of alleging it to be an error,
that "Hhe Lord was free, as Man, from original sin."
S. Maximus the confessor (himself a Constantino-
politan until the outburst of the Monothelite heresy,
and the friend of Pope Martin,) writes that the
Eomans
" 4 produced consonant testimonies of the Latin fa-
thers and of Cyril of Alexandria out of his sacred
work on the holy Evangelist John, from which they
4 Ep. ad Marin. Opp. ii. 70.
XXXV111
PREFACE.
shewed that they did not make the Son the Cause
of the Holy Spirit. For they knew that the Father
is the one Cause of Son and Spirit, of the One accord-
ing to Generation; of the Other, according to Pro-
cession; but (they used it) to convey that the One
came through the Other, and to shew thereby the
community of Substance and invariableness."
S. Maximus calls the objection "a subterfuge" of
the adversaries (Monothelites). Anastasius, who was
long Apoerisiarius of the Koman see at Constanti-
nople, writes about A. D. 754,
" 5 We have besides translated from the Epistle of
S. Maximus to Marinus Presbyter, the details con-
cerning the Procession of the Holy Spirit, where ho
implies that the Greeks falsely except against us,
since we do not say that the Son is the Cause or
Principle of the Holy Spirit, as they imagine, but,
knowing the oneness of Substance of Father and
Son, we confess that as He proceeds from the Father,
so He proceeds from the Son, understanding by
the Emission, the Procession. Herein he interprets
piously, and instructs to peace those who know both
languages ; in that he teaches both us and the
Greeks, that in one way the Holy Spirit proceedeth,
in another He doth not proceed from the Son, signi-
fying the difficulty of expressing in one language
the specialty of the other. By the like pious in-
terpretation S. Athanasius formerly united Easterns
and Westerns, when disagreeing about the word
Hypostasis or Person, teaching that both believed
and held the same truth, although, on account of the
difference of language, they confessed it differently,
and were angrily and idly contending with each
other."
Bessarion alleges the Synodical letter of Tarasius
as shewing that the word, through, expressed the
5 Epist. ad Joann. Diac. This quotation by Anastasius (as Le Quien
observes p. v.) authenticates beyond question the genuineness of the
passage of S. Maximus, which some doubted.
PREFACE.
XXXIX
mind of the 7th General Council, in whose name he
wrote it :
" 6 The 7th of tlio (Ecumenic Councils proclaimeth
through the divine Tarasius, sayings that he believes
in the Holy Ghost, which proccedeth from the Father
through the Son, and Itself is known to be God."
In A. D. 730 the form "from the Son" must have
become obsolete in Jerusalem also. Perhaps, in the
confusions of the Monophysite heresy and the Mo-
hammedan oppression, learning had become circum-
scribed, and S. John Damascene, whose compendium
the Greeks subsequently used, was better acquainted
with S. Gregory Nyss, and S. Basil, who used chiefly
" through the Son," than with S. Epiphanius or S.
Cyril of Alexandria. S. John Damascene, while
holding the same faith as to the Procession of the
Holy Ghost, says,
" 7 We do not say that the Spirit is of (e/c) the
Son, but we call Him the Spirit of the Son."
Yet, although those among whom he lived had
dropped the expression 'from,' it is clear that he him-
self held the ' through ' in no other sense than the
old Greek fathers, of the mode of the eternal exis-
tence of the Holy Trinity, and that he rejected the
{ from ' as involving, in his conception, the denial of
the Monarchia of the Father. This he repeatedly
adds,
< < 8 The Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Father, as pro-
ceeding from the Father .... and the Spirit of the
e 1. c. Cone. T. 18. p. 431.
i de fide orthod. i. 9. p. 141 ed. Le Quien. f ^ t
8 to 7rv€VjU.a to "Ayiov. rrvev/Aa tov irarpos, a>s^ ck 7rotTpos eKTropevo-
fievov .... Kai vlov Sc irv€VfJLa, ovx ws l£ avrov, a.XX' a>s Si' avrov e*
irarpos ZKiropcvofXtvov /*oVos yap aiTios 6 varr/p. i. 12. fin. Opp. i. 148.
to
xl
PREFACE.
11 I
Son, too, not as from Him but as proceeding through
Him from the Father; for the Father is the sole
cause."
Again, it is of His Eternal existence, not of His
going forth to creatures, that he speaks,
" 9 The Father always was, having of His own Self
His Word and His Spirit proceeding from Him
through His Word/'
And this Procession he speaks of, in contrast with
the Eternal Generation of the Son,
" l The Holy Grhost is Holy Ghost, for from the
Father, through the Word and Son, He goeth forth,
but not after the manner of a Son."
He uses also the very language of S. Cyril, " 3 The
Spirit is the Son's, because It is poured forth through
Him and from Him ;" and of S. Athanasius, S. Basil
and S. Cyril; " 8 The Son is the image (et/cav) of the
Father ; and the Spirit, of the Son ;" which implies
the eternal relation to the Son. He says also " 3 that
the Spirit is united by the Son to the Father " and
" 3 proceeding indivisibly from the Father, and rest-
ing in the Son, He is of one substance with the Fa-
ther and the Son:" which is the identical teaching of
9 del rjv, t\wu k£ kavrov rov avrov Adyov, kcu Sia rov Aoyov airov
«£ avrov to Tlvcvfia avrov SKTropevopevov. Contra Manichseos Dialogus,
n. 5, t. i. 432 init.
1 IIv€{!/xa''A'yiov, to Uvevfia to ''AytoV ck tov 7rarpos yap Sia, tot) vlov
koX koyov Trpdiov, oix vIkS>s 8c. De Hymno Trisagio Epistola, n. 28. s.
f. i. 497. In p. 140 he adds, dAA.' CKiropevrm, "but by way of proces-
sion." And then he adds that "the special property of Each is un-
changeable," so that "the Father does not cease to be Unbegotten, be-
cause He begat; nor the Son to be begotten, because He was begotten
by the Unbegotten ; nor did the Spirit change to the Father or the Son,
because He proceeded and because He is God."
2 Expos, fid. (ex Arab.) Opp. i. 664. 3 de fid. orth. i. 13.
PREFACE.
xli
Gregory the Great; " 4 It is manifest that the Para-
clete Spirit proceedeth from the Father and abid-
eth in the Son." " 5 Unlike (the way in which He
dwelleth in the Saints) the Spirit abideth in the Son,
from Whom by nature He never departeth." And
Vigilius Tapsensis, a6 We have proved by many tes-
timonies of the Scriptures, that He is the Spirit of
the Son and that He abideth whole in the Son ; and
as He proceedeth from God the Father, so He pro-
ceedeth from the Son, that the whole Trinity may
be believed to be one God."
Seasonable minds, both in East and "West, saw that
there was no ground for either side to inculpate the
other.
When Charlemagne objected that Tarasius, Patri-
arch of Constantinople, professed his faith, that " 7 the
Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father through the
Son," Pope Adrian I, in a letter still extant 8 , ex-
pressly defended him. When some turbulent monks
of S. Saba sent laymen to eject the Latin monks of
Mount Olivet worshipping, on the Nativity of our
Lord, at Bethlehem, because they said the Creed
with the Filioque, the Patriarch of Jerusalem took
no part in the accusation 9 , and it came to nothing.
Leo III, (who refused to insert the Filioque into the
Creed when asked by Charlemagne through his Missi,
out of deference to the holy Fathers who framed it l )
4 Dial. ii. 38. Greek Transl. See Le Quien Diss. Damasc. i. n. 22. p. xi.
5 Mor. iii. n. 92. lb. 6 De Trin. L. xi. lb. p. xii.
: Ep. ad Patriarch. Syn. Nic. ii. Act. iii. Cone. viii. 812. Col.
8 Epist. Adriani P. ad Car. Mag., Actt. Syn. Nic. ii. subjecta. Cone. viii.
1554. sqq. Col. 9 Ep. Leon, ad Car. Magn. Le Quien. p. vii.
1 "For I too will not, I say not, prefer myself; far be it from me that
I should presume to equal myself to them." S. Leo iii. Ep. in Le Q.
p. viii.
8*'
xlii
PREFACE.
sent to the Eastern Bishops a confession of faith a on
the Holy Trinity with the words,
" The Holy Ghost Who proceedeth equally from
the Father and Son, consubstantial with the Father
and Son. The Father whole God in Himself; The
Son whole God, begotten by the Father ; the Holy
Spirit whole God, proceeding from the Father and
Son/'
and no exception was taken against it. The unhappy
Photius gave it as an excuse for the great schism.
" He, one and the same," says a writer on the Greek
side s , "both set himself to divide the Churches, using
the difference of doctrine as a colour, and again made
the agreement of the Churches the price of his private
advantage." Yet from his deposition A.D. 886 to, at
least, A.D. 1199, East and West retained their own
expression of faith, without schism 4 .
Cerularius did not at first object to the Latins any
matter of faith, hut says that, " s expressly acknowledg-
ing the life-originating and consubstantial Holy Trinity
and the Incarnation of our Lord God and Saviour
Jesus Christ, they stumbled in this one only thing
that they used unleavened bread at the oblation."
A.D. 1077 Theophylact excepted, not to the faith
contained m the words but only to their insertion
in the Creed.
" 6 In all besides, I will allow you to use this word,
the proceeding of the Spirit from the Father and the
2 See Le Q,u. p. viii.
3 G. Scholarius de process. Sp. S. cont. Lat, c. 4. Le Q,u. p. xi.
4 Peter oLAntioch, about A. 1054, says that he had heard the name of
the Roman Pontiff recited from the diptychs at the Mass at Constanti-
nople, 45 years before. Le Quien. p. xii.
5 Peter Antioch. Ep. ad Domin. Grad. n. 7. Coteler Eccl. Gr. Monum.
T. ii. p. 117.
6 in Joann. Vecc. Orat. i. dc union. Eccl. Le Q. p. xvii.
PREFACE,
xliii
Son, as speech enableth thee; I mean, in common
discourses, and ecclesiastical homilies; in the Symbol
alone I will riot grant thee."
Nicetas, in the course of his conference with Anselm
of Havelberg, about 1149, said that the Latin doc-
trine was not unreasonable, but objected apparently
to the insertion of the words 7 .
In 1155 Basil Achridcnus wrote to Adrian II, that
the schism had arisen on account of some " 8 stumbling
blocks of slight moment." The Bishops in the time
of the Emperor John Ducas A.D. 1249 proposed that
" 9 the interpolation should be put out of the Creed
but might be retained and used in any other form."
A.D. 1256 Alexander IY rehearsed the terms of union
proposed to his predecessor Innocent IY. who dis-
approved indeed that this article of the Mcene Creed
( Ul in which the Greek Church seems to disagree
a very little from the Roman") was excepted from
the Council to be held, but granted that
"in the approaching Council the tenor of the
aforesaid Creed should not be changed except by
mutual consent, which, we hope, the harmony of
reconciliation will bring, but should, in the Greek
Church, remain in that form, in which the Synod
aforesaid promulgated it, provided that, as to the
faith in the Holy Trinity the Greek Church have
throughout the same Catholic Faith [in omnibus
catholice consentiat] as the Roman."
i Even at the beginning of the Council of Florence,
" Le Q. p. xx. from Ans. Havelb. c. Gr. ii. 2. Spicil. T. i.
8 fipaxta riva 7rpo?/co/x/xaTa, Greek in Jur. Gr. Rom. v. 30?, Lat. in
Baron. A. 1155. Le Qu. lb. ,J Pacliymeres v. 12.
1 Le Q. p. xxi. from Wading i. 147, Regest. Lib. ii. Ep. 325.
xliv
PREFACE.
Mark of Ephesus, who in the end made it fruitless,
said,
" 2 Efface it from the confession of faith and place
it where you will, and let it be sung in the Churches
as the hymn, ' The Only-Begotten Word of God, being
immortal.' "
The conference at Florence made much impression
on all the Greeks except Mark of Ephesus. The
Patriarch who had been averse to the Latin formula,
gave his vote in writing thus,
" 3 Since we have heard the sayings of the holy
Eastern and Western fathers, some saying, that the
Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son,
others, that He is from the Father through the Son,
(although the 'through the Son' is the same as 'from
the Son/ and 'from the Son' is the same as ' through
the Son,') yet we, leaving the 'from the Son' say
that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father
through the Son eternally and essentially as from
origin and cause, the ' through ' designating ' cause '
in the procession of the Holy Spirit."
To all this the Bishops assented, except five; among
them, Mark of Ephesus. Syropulus says that the
Patriarch had told him why he had subscribed to the
union,
"that the writings of the Western fathers were
genuine ; that he had read Athanasius, affirming the
same; also Cyril in various places; Epiphanius too,
whose words were so express, that Joseph 4 , Monk
and Doctor, once owned candidly, that he had what
to answer to passages of other fathers, but to the
Saint himself, nothing."
2 Le Qu. p. xxvi. from Mich. Due. Hist. c. 32.
8 Syropulus sect. 9. c. 9. Le Qu. p. xxviii.
4 Bp. of Methone probably, A.D. 1440, who wrote Responsio ad libellum
Marci Ephesii, inserted in App. to Council of Florence Cone, xviii.
p. 690.
PREFACE.
xlv
The Decree of the Council, in declaring the identity
of the meaning of the two formulaD, seems to be
framed on one of George Scholarius, afterwards a
great enemy of the Council, in which he draws out
the Latin side very clearly, but leaves ambiguities in
the Greek statement.
" 5 Since we Greeks heretofore thought, that the
Latins affirmed, that the Holy Spirit proceeded from
the Father and the Son, as from two Principles or
Spirations, and therefore did not affirm that the
Father was the principle and fountain of the whole
Deity of Son and Holy Spirit, therefore we have
abstained from the addition or word which they
added, for explanation, to the Creed, and likewise
from their Communion. But we being collected
into this second and (Ecumenical Synod, by the sin-
gular grace of God, to bring about a holy union,
after many questions and discussions had and venti-
lated, and very many testimonies being produced
both from Holy Scripture and the holy doctors of
the Church, we the Latins profess, that we do not
say that the Spirit proceedeth from the Father and
the Son, meaning to exclude the Father from being
Principle and Fount of the whole Godhead of the
Son and Holy Spirit, or as believing that the Son
did not receive from the Father, that the Holy Spirit
proceeded from the Son, or as setting forth two prin-
ciples or two productions of the Holy Spirit; but
we confess that the Holy Spirit eternally emanated
from the Father and the Son, as from one Principle
and by one Production : in like way, we Greeks as-
sert that the Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father,
and is the own Spirit of the Son, and is poured forth
from Him, and we professed and believed that He is
poured forth by Both Substantially, viz. by the Fa-
ther through the Son."
Scholarius shewed that he clearly understood the
Latin doctrine, and that it was not open to the impu-
tations of Photius ; but on the side of the Greeks he
3 Syrop. n. 8. Le Qu. p. xxvii. xxviii.
d
m
hi-
xlvi
PEEFACE.
i I.
I
i !
repeated only unexplained sayings of some Greek
fathers, capable by themselves of being understood
without any reference to the Eternal Being of God,
and perhaps the more so, as standing in contrast with
the definite statements which he had put into the
mouth of the Latins. On being asked to explain,
Scholarius made no answer, and soon after left the
Council. The Greeks answered that the "Westerns
rejected the sayings of the Fathers. They were only
asked, in what sense they used them ; e. g. whether
they understood the "pouring forth" to be from eter-
nity, and to relate to Substance and Person ; what
they meant by "pouring forth," whether it meant the
same as to " proceed " &c.
The Council adopted the statements of Scholarius
only leaving out what was ambiguous :
" 6 Seeing that in this holy (Ecumenical Council by
the grace of Almighty God we Latins and Greeks
have come together for an holy union to be made be-
tween us, and have taken diligent care one with
another, that that Article on the Procession of the
Holy Ghost should be discussed with' great care and
diligent enquiry : testimonies too havingbeen brought
forward from the Divine Scriptures and full many
authorities of holy Doctors Eastern and Western,
some saying that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father and the Son, others from the Father through
the Son, and all intending the same meaning under
different words : We the Greeks have declared that
what we say, that the Holy Ghost proceeds of the
Father, we do not say with intent of excluding the
Son : but, because we thought that the Latins said
that the Holy Ghost is of the Father and the Son as
of two origins and two Spirations, we have abstained
from saying that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father and the Son. And we the Latins affirm that
6 Cone. t. xviii. 1 146. ed. Col.
PREFACE.
xlvii
what we say, that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Father and the Son, we do not say in the sense of
excluding the Father from being the Source of all
Godhead, of the Son, that is, and the Holy Ghost : or
that this, that the Holy Ghost proceeds from the
Son, the Son hath not from the Father, or in the
sense of affirming that there are two Sources or two
Spirations, but we affirm that there is One sole
Source and Only Breathing of the Holy Ghost, as
heretofore we have asserted."
De Turrecremata even proposed to anathematise
the heresy imputed to the Latins :
" 7 We follow the Apostolic See, we know that
there is one Cause of the Son and the Holy Spirit
the Father, Therefore the Roman Church doth
not believe two Principles or two Causes, but One
Principle and Oae Cause. Bat those who assert two
Principles or two Causes we anathematise."
The Latins have not accused the Greeks of heresy ;
hut individuals of them certainly have been heretics,
denying the mode of the being of God. For denying
the eternal Procession of the Holy Ghost through the
Son, and, after the example of the Monothelites 8 , li-
miting the words, by which the Fathers declared it,
to' His temporal mission after our Lord's Ascension 9 ,
7 Le Qu. p. xxvii.
3 The Monothelite, Macarius of Antioch, glossed, "the Holy Spirit Who
proceedeth from the Father and shone forth through the Son/' with the
words " viz, to men." vi th Gen. Council, Act. 8. Cone. vii. 772. Col.,
whereas in the Fathers all the like words are used of the eternal Pro-
cession. See Pet. de Trin. vii. 10.
9 " All who from the time of Cerularius to John Beccus " (who was won
to the Latin side by Nicephorus Blemmidas, and was Patriarch A.D.
1272, accordingly above 200 years) "wrote in behalf of the schism,
with one consent maintained no procession of the Holy Spirit from the
Father through the Son, except that temporal manifestation or granting
of spiritual gifts." Le Quien p. xxiii. xxiv. He instances Michael
Psellus who explained " the Procession through the Son " that He was
imparted by Him and partaken by all creation; " Nicetas of Nicomedia,
" given through the Son to sanctify the creature, or, according to others,
because He passed through the Son to sanctify men ; " or the Bishop
d2*
xlviii
PREFACE.
they do in fact destroy the eternal relation of the
Third Person of the Adorable Trinity to the Second,
and conceive of God as existing otherwise than He
has revealed Himself. It is startling to hear S. Epi-
phanius or S. Athanasius deny that the Holy Spirit is
a the Brother of the Son;" it shocks us to have to
deny, as to God, a relation analogous to one of our
human relations, which God has not revealed to us
of Himself. But it is, in our human words, what
the denial of the eternal Procession of the Holy
Ghost "from" or "through the Son" comes to. For
God the Son and God the Holy Ghost issued forth
from the Father's Being as the Source and Original
of Each. If then the Holy Ghost had not (which
these deny) proceeded eternally "through the Son,"
but had proceeded from the Father independently of
the Son, they had had to each other that relation
which in our human likeness had been that of bro-
thers.
It would also much impair our idea of the Unity
of God in the Adorable Trinity, did we conceive of
Two of the Persons as having no relation to one an-
other, except an independent relation to the One Fa-
ther. , The truth of the mutual Inexistence 1 of the
Three Blessed Persons, which our Lord reveals to us
by the words, " I am in the Father and the Father
in Me," "The Father "Who abideth in Me," facilitates
to us the conception of the simple Unity of God in
the All -Holy Trinity. The doctrine excludes Arianism
of Nicomedia " was sent or was given through the Son : " Andronicus
Camaterus explained even S. Cyril's, that He "was the own Spirit of the
Son and in Him and from Him" to be " not of His procession, but of His
mission, gift or supply." lb.
1 TrepLxuprjaLS. See Petav. de Trin. iv. 16. per totum, Dr. Newman
notes on S. Athanasius against the Arians, Oxf. Tr. passim.
PREFACE.
xlix
on the one side, and Sabellianism on the other; "nei-
ther confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Sub-
stance." The Fathers had most occasion to dwell
upon this against the Arians. In our human mode
of existence, the father is external to the son, and
the breath from the breather. In God, all is within
Himself, in the absolute unity and simplicity of His
Being.
" How/' asks S. Cyril 2 , " could God be conceived
as being One, if each Person withdrew into an entire
individuality, and, wholly removed from the essential
union and mutual relation, were called God ? "
" 3 In no way can there be imagined any division
or separation, so that the Son could be conceived of
without the Father, or the Spirit be disjoined from
the Son. — But in Them is apprehended a certain at
once communion and disjunction beyond words or
thought." " * They are united, not so as to be con-
fused, but as to cohere together ; and they have In-
existence in each other, without any commingling
or confusion ; nor are they parted from one another,
or divided in essence, according to the division of
Arius. But to speak concisely, Deity is, in Separate,
Inseparate 5 .
" 6 In the Godhead we confess one Nature, but say
that there are in truth three Persons, and we say,
that all which is of nature and essence is simple, but
we acknowledge the difference of Persons in these
three properties only ; the being Uncaused and Fa-
ther; or caused and Son; or caused and Proceeding;
but we know that they go not forth apart from Each
other, and are inseparate and united, and inexist un-
confusedly in Each other, and are united without
confusion (for They are Three although they are
united) and are, without division, distinct. For al-
though Each exists by Himself, i. e., is perfectly a
Person, and has His own property, i. e., His own
2 See below p. 53. 3 S. Basil Ep. 38 n. 4. Opp. iii. 118. Ben.
4 Damascene in Petav. iv. 16. 7. ° a^ipicrros iv fie/xepKr/Atvois.
6 Damasc. de fid. orth. iii. 5.
i M
1 PREFACE.
separate mode of Being, yet they are united in Es-~
sence and natural properties, and by their not being
separated or going apart from the Person of the Fa-
ther, such are and are called One God."
"By the natural unity," S. Fulgentius says 7 , "the
whole Father is in the Son and Holy Spirit, the
whole Son is in the Father and Holy Spirit, the
whole Holy Spirit also is in the Father and the Son.
None of these is external to any one of them, for
none precedeth another in eternity, or exceeds in
magnitude, or overpasseth in power."
and Alcuin 8 :
" God by the immensity of His Nature filleth and
containeth the whole creation, and thereby the Fa-
ther filleth the whole whatever is; the Son the
whole ; the Holy Spirit the whole. Wherefore also
the Son and the Holy Spirit are by nature, One.
The inseparable unity therefore of nature cannot have
separable Persons. But this nature of Supreme
Trinity and individual Unity, which Alone is whole
everywhere, as it hath everywhere inseparable Unity
of nature or operation, so it cannot receive separation
of Persons."
This Inexistence of the Divine Persons, which our
Divine Lord lays down in the words, "I am in the
Father and the Father in Me," is essential to any
intelligent conception of the Divine Unity. The ab-
sence of the belief in it has been at the root of every
heresy as to the Holy Trinity. Apart from the 'from'
or * through,' it is contained in every expression, that
God the Holy Ghost is "in the Son" "is essentially
Inexistent in Him," "is in Him and His own," "in
Him by Nature."
In the order of the Divine existence, contained in
the baptismal formula which our Lord prescribed to
7 de fide ad Petr. c. 1.
s de Trin. i. 14.
PREFACE.
li
us, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, the Father, as our
Lord says, ever inexists in the Son, Who eternally
and unchangeably has His existence from Him in
the Immensity of Godhead, and the Father and the
Son, being One, ever inexist in the Holy Spirit, Who
is breathed forth from Both. Take away this belief,
and the Inexistence is gone. Such introduce division
into the Godhead, a sort of duality of existence, the
Father being supposed ever to produce the Son by
Generation, the Holy Ghost by Procession, but God
the Son and God the Holy Ghost having no relation
to one another.
The loss of the "and the Son" would to our un-
theological practical English mind involve the loss of
the doctrine of the Trinity.
It would be a great gift of grace to the Greek
Church to own that they and their forefathers have
been mispersuaded, to accuse of heresy the formula
which their great S. Cyril and S. Epiphanius used so
naturally, "from the Son." It has been in those
who inherited the mispersuasion, an unintentional
false-witness of near 1000 years.
As for the objection that U9 the Eoman Pontiff should
not have added anything to the common Creed with-
out consulting the other Patriarchs, who divide with
him the rule of the Church ;"
1. If true, a) the objection would come with a bad
grace from the Greeks, since at the second General
Council, in which the clauses as to the Holy Ghost
were themselves added to the Nicene Creed, one
Western Bishop alone was present, and he, not as
any representative of the West. The heresy of Ma-
9 Le Quien n. 39. p. xix.
lii
PREFACE.
cedonius had its rise and adherents in the East, and
was remedied by an Eastern Council, which became
(Ecumenical, only through its reception by the West.
Else it had remained a Greek Council, being con-
vened by the Emperor without any concurrence of
the "Western Church. I) Additions were made to
the Creed from the first, without any authority of the
whole. The Apostles' Creed was varied both in
East and West 1 . Our Lord's lt descent into Hell,"
though universally believed, "does not appear in any
ancient Creed except that of Aquileia, and is directly
stated by Euffinus to have been wanting in the Eo-
man and Oriental Creeds 2 . The * Communion of
Saints' lying implicitly in 'the Holy Church' is not
found in any very ancient Greek Creed, and hence
was not incorporated into the Nicene nor into the
Athanasian Creed. The earliest place in which it
occurs is the Gallican Sacramentary of the end of
the 7th Century." c) The addition was made for the
satisfaction of minds in the West, without any at-
tempt to impose it upon the East. The Greeks refused
to be in communion with the West, unless the West
gave up the expression of the faith, in its hereditary
language; the Latins did not attempt to impose the
addition to the Creed upon the East.
The objection against altering the common Creed
would have been valid, had there been manifested
any intention of forcing it upon the East. But the
Greeks were on the offensive. The charge of Photius
was that the Eoman Church in particular and the
whole Latin-speaking Church generally were guilty
1 See note P. On the early traces and variations of the Apostles' Creed
in Tertullian p. 496—507, Oxf. Tr. 2 lb. p. 503 sq.
PREFACE.
liii
herein of heresy ; he explicitly said that the Creed
was unchanged 3 . The Greeks were expressly ex-
empted from altering the Creed in case of reunion,
in the negotiations under Innocent IY 4 : in the Coun-
cil of Lyons A.D. 1261, Michael Palseologus asked
"s that, our Church should say the holy Creed as it
said it before the schism." In the Council of Flo-
rence, the Greeks declared 6 , "this addition we will
never receive, but" they added as a concession, "we
permit you to have it in your Churches, yet not in those
of the East : and we say, that under the pressure of
necessity ye expanded the Creed ; and we do not say,
that that word 'from the Son' is either another faith
or an addition, but that it is pious and an explana-
tion of our Creed ; and both Creeds are pious and
of the same meaning, as ye say it in the Church of
the Eomans, and as we again say it in the Eastern
Church, and so let the union be formed." The Em-
peror had previously laid it down as a condition of
union. " 7 It being laid down that the Latins should
neither compel us to add any thing in our holy Creed,
nor to change any thing of the customs of our
Church" ; following herein the Patriarch, who " 8 ac-
cepted the western Saints saying that the Holy Spirit
is from the Father and the Son ; yet admonishing,
'only, let us not insert it in our Creed, but retain-
ing all our customs, be united with them.'" Clement
VIII decreed 9 that the Greeks [in union with the
West] should be bound to believe that the Holy
3 Tract de process. Sp. S. c. Latin, ap. Le Q. n. 26 p. xiv.
4 See above p. xliii. b in Cone. Lugd. ii. Sess. iv.
Cone. xiv. 512. Col. . Le Q.. n. 46. p. xxii. 10.
6 Cone: Flor: Sess. xxvi sub. fin. Cone, xviii. 568. Col. .
Mb. 493. 8 lb. 492.
9 Bulla xxxiv. n. 6. Le Q. n. 39. p. xix.
•!^
; ;t?
liv
PREFACE.
1 **
}: i
Spirit proceeds from the Son but should not be bound
to utter it, unless there were scandal; "wherefore,"
adds Le Quien, "the Greeks who are in union with
the Eoman Church repeat [A. D. 1710] the Creed
freely without addition." But —
2. There was no such formal addition by (c the Eoman
Pontiff" nor was there any intention to add a word
to the Creed. It is well known now, that the tradi-
tion having been lost during the Arian times, the
third Council of Toledo A.D. 589, which first intro-
duced the Filioque, believed it to be part of the Creed
of Constantinople 1 . How they came to think so, we
know not. "The Procession from the Father and the
Son" had long been the popular expression of the
faith of the West, and it seems to have come in
unawares. It had, probably, been filled in by some
one, who thought the omission of the Filioque a mis-
take. Transcribers fill up what they believe to be doc-
trinal omissions of MSS., which the context shews that
they supply wrongly in that particular place. From
Spain, (as is known) the " et Filio" came with the
chanting of the Creed into France, was A.D. 930
not admitted by Leo III, and probably was admitted
at Eome with the Creed, when, at the instance of
the Emperor Henry II, this was sung there for the
first time, in A.D. 1014.
It is strange that the Canon of the Council of
Ephesus should ever have been construed as restrain-
ing the Church thereafter from guarding the faith by
any addition to the Creed of Nice. For Almighty
God alone could know certainly, whether or no there
should be any occasion for this in the future of the
1 Cone. vi. 697. Col.
PREFACE.
lv
Church. The Canon was framed on occasion of
the Nestorian exposition of faith, which Charisius
presented to returning Quartodecimans and No-
vatians 2 .
The Council forbade to "produce or write or
compose any other Creed, beside (irapa) that which
was denned by the holy Fathers collected at Nice,"
and decreed that clergy who should so do should
be deposed and laity excommunicated. Obviously
they could not mean to prohibit additions to the
Creed of Nice. For this would have been to con-
demn the Fathers of Constantinople, who did add
to the Nicene Creed and require subscription to
the Creed so augmented. S. Cyril, who probably
framed the Canon, explained that what was not
against the Creed was not beside it. The Ori-
entals had proposed to S. Cyril as terms of con-
cord, that he should " do away with all he had
written in epistles tomes or books, and agree
with that only faith which had been denned by
our holy Fathers at Nice." "But," S. Cyril an-
swered,
" 3 we all follow the exposition of faith defined by
our holy fathers in the city of Nice, sapping abso-
lutely nothing of the things contained in it. For
they are all right and unexceptionable, and anything
curious after that is not safe. But what I have
rightly written against the blasphemies of Nesto-
rius no one will persuade me to say that they were
not done well :"
and against the imputation that he "had received an
Cone. Eph. Act. vi. T. iii. p. 1201—1221. Col.
Ep. 35 ad Acac. Melit. Opp. v. P. 2. 2. p. 110.
lvi
PREFACE.
exposition of faith or new Creed, as dishonouring that
old and venerable Creed," he says 4 ,
" Neither have we demanded of any an exposi-
tion of faith, nor have we received one newly framed
by others. For Divine Scripture suffices us, and
the prudence of the holy fathers, and the symbol of
faith, framed perfectly as to all right faith. But
since the most holy Eastern Bishops differed from
us as to that of Ephesus and were somehow suspected
of being entangled in the meshes of Nestoi'ius, there-
fore they very wisely made a defence, to free them-
selves from blame, and eager to satisfy the lovers
of the blameless faith, that they were minded to
have no share in his impiety ; and the thing is far
from all note of blame. If Nestorius himself, when
we all held out to him that he ought to condemn
his own dogmas and choose the truth instead there-
of, had made a written confession thereon, who would
say that he framed for us a new exposition of faith ?
Why then do they calumniate the assent of the most
holy Bishops of Phoenicia, calling it a new setting
forth of the Creed, whereas they made it for a good
and necessary end, to defend themselves and soothe
those who thought that they followed the innovations
of Nestorius ? For the holy (Ecumenical Synod ga-
thered at Ephesus provided, of necessity, that no other
exposition of faith beside that which existed, which the
most blessed fathers, speahing in the Holy Ghost, de-
fined, should be brought into the Ohtirches of God. But
they who at one time, I know not how, differed from
it, and were suspected of not being right-minded,
following the Apostolic and Evangelic doctrines,
how should they free themselves from this ill-report?
by silence ? or rather by self-defence, and by mani-
festing the power of the faith which was in them ?
The divine disciple wrote, f be ready always to give an
answer to every one who asketh you an account of
the hope which is in you/ But he who willeth to do
this, innovates in nothing, nor doth he frame any
new exposition of faith, but rather maketh plain to
those who ask him, what faith he hath concerning
Christ."
4 lb. p. 112.
PREFACE. lvii
Eulogius of Alexandria, A.D. 581, puts the refuta-
tion very clearly, answering the Monophysites also ;
" 5 Again, the madness of heresy blames the 4th
Council for setting forth an exposition, maintaining
that any such attempt is wholly precluded by the
first Council of Ephesus. And yet if, according to
their idle speech, that Council had altogether for-
bidden making another definition, it would, before
all others, have passed a sentence of condemnation
against itself. For it does define what none before
it defined. Nay its r\ naff virocrTcicnv evcocrw is a
definition, not made by the elder Synods. Yea,
and in the vain speech a false charge is brought
against the Synod of the 150 holy fathers at Constan-
nople ; for it, putting down the rebel against the
Spirit, and adding the theology as to the Holy Spirit
to the definition expressed at Nice, conjoined it there-
with. For if the previous Councils, with their addi-
tions, escape blame, neither will those, after them,
for the like acts have an unlike condemnation. So
does this senselessness confuse and distort every-
thing. For the Council of Ephesus wholly forbade
that another faith should be set forth, whose dog-
mas were contrary 6 to that at Nice ; but that, what
was defined by it being maintained pure and invio-
late, to add what was required by circumstances was
what it did itself. And this is the teaching of na-
ture itself, and the tradition of the Church through-
out is seen to acquiesce in this. Wherefore also at
Alexandria, before the Ecumenical Synod was con-
vened, the divine Cyril having gathered there select
Bishops and having framed a written statement of
faith, sent it to Nestorius.'"
S. Maxlmus had to answer the same imputation
from the Monophysites, as to " the confession of two
natures of our Lord" and the term " in two natures,"
in the Council of Chalcedon. He answers,
" 7 How and with what reason do you accuse the
holy Council of Chalcedon, although it manifoldly
5 Eulog. in Phot. Bibl. cod. 230. p. 275, 1. Bekk.
6 rj<; ivavria ra 86yfiara. 7 OpP- ii> U4> 142.
If h'i~
lviii
PREFACE.
fh
p*
useth tlie words of the fathers, and abuse it and
mock it as though it introduced another definition
of the Faith ? — If the Council of Chalcedon may be
accused of making another definition of the Faith,
on account of the words inserted in the Nicene de-
finition, the same may be said against Cyril also,
and the 120 fathers [the third and the second Ge-
neral Council] . How it should not lie against them
and should lie against this [of Chalcedon] I com-
prehend not. — For Gregory, the defender of the Faith,
will not any more escape your accusation against
those of Chalcedon; rather he will lie under it ex-
ceedingly, expressing distinctly what was defici-
ently said as to the Holy Spirit by the Council of
Nice, ' because/ he says, ' this question had not yet
been moved.' — If we may speak the truth, all the
God-elected fathers after the Council of Nice, and
every Council of orthodox and holy men, did not,
through the introduction of words of their own, in-
troduce another definition of the Faith, as you de-
clare — but they firmly established that one and the
same faith which was laid down by the 318 fathers,
elucidating and, as it were, explaining it in detail,
on account of those who understood it amiss and
misinterpreted 8 it and its doctrines to their own un-
godliness."
It was the habit of Eastern heretics to allege the
decree of Ephesus, which was framed on occasion of
an heretical Creed, to protect their own heresies from
condemnation.
The Western statement of the Procession of the
Holy Ghost "from the Father and the Son" was
not, as far as we know, framed as a corrective of any
heretical teaching ; bnt it has, in the good Providence
of God, been a great preservative against heresy,
which would not have been guarded against by the
Greek formula, "through the Son." For although
8 S. Maximus contrasts the "additional interpretations" of the Church
(i7re$rjyovfjLevot) and the "misinterpretations" (7rape£r]yovfxei>oi) of here-
tics, which may illustrate what was forbidden by the napa of the Coun-
cil of Ephesus.
PREFACE.
lix
chis, in the language of the Greek fathers, expressed
the same doctrine, yet it admitted also of a meaning,
compatible with a denial of the Faith, as contained
in the Baptismal formula, given us by our Lord.
The thirst for visible unity has directed itself the
more towards the Greek Church, since the Eoman
Church has shut against us what seemed to be a
half-open door. But therewith there has, among
some, seemed to be a rising impatience of the " Fi-
lioque," as though it were the hindrance to an union
with the Eastern Church. It seemed then expedient
on occasion of the publication of one of the great and
most esteemed works of S. Cyril, to bring together,
from the Greek fathers, some of the evidence of the
use of the formula, now excepted against by the later
Greeks since Photius, and especially since the renewal
of the schism by Cerularius. Middle-age Greek
writers have surmised that the ground of the pro-
longed schism was not the doctrine, but "the thrones 9 ,"
Constantinople wishing to have an eminence over the
other Eastern Patriarchates, which did not belong to
it, Eome claiming an authority over Constantinople
and the East, which it did not claim in primitive
times. There seemed then, the more hope, that
since this question did not lie between Greece and
ourselves, they could not, if they would look into the
question, except against our retaining the expression
of the faith, which was common to their own fathers.
9 e. g. "Although the schism is said to have been renewed under
Sergius, I know not for what reason ; but I think, on account of the
sees." Nicetas Nicsenus in Le Quien p. xii. The ground of the failure
of attempts at re-union seems to have been the subjection to Rome in-
volved. See also " one of their able and moderate writers, Elias Meniates,
Bishop of Zerniza, towards the end of the 17 th cent., Lapis offensionis,
L. ii. c. 1. quoted by M. Trevern. Discussion Amicale, T. i. p. 231," in
Dr. Pusey's Eirenicon i. p. 63.
lx
PREFACE.
K
r
i '■
r;
"Whether this will be so, He alone lmoweth Who dis-
poseth the hearts of men. One thing is certain, that
we must not, in a desire for a premature union, aban-
don the expression of our faith of at least 1200 years.
However the faith may be maintained by tradition in
the East, but, in fact certainly is, more or less widely
not maintained there 1 , we, by parting with our in-
herited expression of it, should forfeit the belief it-
self, and become misbelievers in our God.]
1 Bessarion, in a declaration appended to his " Oratio dogmatica " at
the Council of Florence (Cone. T. 18. 465. Col.) says, that "the Greeks
have four evasions of the force of the word Sta ; i) that the words with
which it is used, signify only the distribution of His graces and gifts
to us, and His temporal mission into the world, which they grant to be
through the Son. ii) Because Father and Son are relative names, and
that one of two relatives cannot be spoken of, without the other being
understood; therefore in saying 'from the Father' it is necessary to name
the Son, on account of the force of the relation, iii) They say that the
Consubstantiality of the Father and the Son is the reason that the Spirit
is said to proceed from the Father through the Son ; for since the Father
and the Son are of the same Substance, when it is said, "from the Father,"
it must needs also be said "from the Son." iv) Because sometimes, but very
rarely and among poets, (who, for the metre, used words metaphorically
and inaccurately) they have found the preposition through sometimes to
have the same sense as with, they say that the Holy Spirit is therefore
said to proceed from the Father through the Son, because He proceeds
from the Father together with the Son." These explanations are mani-
festly alternative, excluding one another, i only takes the through in a
natural sense, yet alone relates to time ; the rest presuppose that the
through relates to the Eternal Procession ; but oddly enough, assume
that through does not mean through ; iv boldly says that through means
with. They are manifestly the shifts of persons evading the Faith
expressed by their forefathers by the word. Bessarion shews their
inapplicability to the passages of the fathers, which they were to explain
away. Orat. dogm. c. 6. Cone. T. 18. 422. sqq.
July, 1874.
S. CYRIL,
ARCHBISHOP OF ALEXANDRIA.
INTERPRETATION OR COMMENT ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.
INTRODUCTION. . ,
THE LORD will give utterance to them who evangelize with Ps. lxviii.
much power, declareth exceeding well the Psalmist. But I
deem that they who ought to approach this, are, not mere ,
chance persons, but those who have been illumined with
the grace that is from above, seeing that both All wisdom Ecdus. %
is from the Lord, as it is written, and Every good gift and every s. James
perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father
of lights. For a thing unsure and not unfraught with peril *
to the many, is the speaking concerning the Essence that is
above all, and the Mysteries belonging thereunto, and silence <
on these subjects is free from danger. Us nevertheless albeit
deeming that we have much need of silence, God Who
is over all excludes from this, saying to one of the Saints 4u
(this was Paul), Speak and hold not thy peace. And no less ActsxvMi
does the ordinance of the Law shew this, indicating things
spiritual in the grosser type. For it enjoins those who have j^
been called to the Divine Priesthood, to declare to the
people by the sound of trumpets, about those things which Lev.xxiii.
they ought to learn. For God, when He willed to set forth in
His laws most excellent things, did not I deem intend that the
leaders of the people should lay their hand on their mouth, as it Job xl - 4.g|
is written, and, in fear of appearing rashly to attempt things
above the mind of man, hold back from the doctrine that is *
so necessary for those who are being instructed in piety and
the knowledge of God, andcKoose a silence perilous to those
who are their disciples. But the Disciple of Christ again * '
terrifies us, saying Be not many masters, and moreover the S : James
VOL. I. B
Danger of speaking of sacred things, uncalled.
Intro- most wise Preacher too, darkly shewing the peril that exists
Eccles. x! in the teaching of such things. For, says he, he that cleaveth
LXX. wood, shall be endangered thereby ; if the iron head fall, both
himself hath troubled his face and he shall strengthen powers.
' * For he likens the keenness of the mind to the iron-head,
in that it is of a nature to pierce through, and sinks in to the
^ « innermost parts, even though it be resisted by the thickness
""" * and close texture of the wood. Wood again he in a figure
jp £ calls the thoughts that are in Holy Scripture, which render
p the Books wherein they are a kind of Spiritual Paradise, and
i j| yet more than' this, full with the fruitfulness that comes of the
Holy Ghost. He that endeavours therefore to unfold the
* # spiritual wood, that is the Divine and Mystic thoughts of
» * Divinely -inspired Scripture by means of insearch, and
1 m most accurate grasp and keenness of mind, will run very
deep risk, saith he, when the iron-head slippeth, that is when
* the mind not carried to a true understanding of the things
which are written, misses the right perception, and having
^ t left, as it were, the straight path, is borne on some other way
of thought turned aside from what is fitting. Whereupon
^ he will place in jeopardy the face of his soul, that is, his heart,
* "* and will invigorate against himself the bad opposing powers,
tf who with their bitter perverse words sophisticate the mind
JP *V* of those who have gone astray ; not suffering it to behold
the beauty of truth, but manifoldly perverting it and per-
suading it to go astray after mad thoughts. For no one
« Cf l Qjfe calleth Jesus Anathema save in Beelzebub.
And let no one deem, himself astray, that the exposition
of the above is astray, or otherwise of false reasoning. For
Divine Scripture does sometimes, as we said before, call the
9 thoughts of Holy Scripture wood. And indeed the God
$ Who is over all says something on this sort through the
Deut. xx. all-wise Moses to those at that time : When thou shalt besiege a
t * 19, 20# city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt
t not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them,
for thou mayest eat of them and thou shalt not cut them down :
f (is the tree of the forest a man, to go before thee unto the
palisade ?) Only the trees which thou knowest that they be
#
I!
Boohs of heretics, like cities of aliens. 3
not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down. Intro-
But that the Grod of all would not have deemed it worth to
prescribe to us such things, if it were to be understood only
of trees of the earth, is I suppose clear to every one, yet I
think one ought to shew from another command also that
He is very unsparing of these, and takes not account of
them. For what I pray does He enjoin should be done to
the false-called gods ? Ye shall destroy their altars, saith He, Deut. vii.
and break down their images, and cut down their groves. '
And by His own altar He no way suffers any tree to be cul-
tivated. For He plainly declares : Thou shalt not plant thee ib.xvi.2i*.
a grove of any trees near unto the altar of the Lord thy God.
And if one must add anything to this, I will speak after the
manner of most wise Paul. Doth God take care for trees ? l Cor. ix.
or saith He it altogether for our sakes ? by grosser examples '
leading us by the hand to the idea of spiritual things.
Let us now say that the writings of the unholy heretics
may be considered as cities, and fortified, haply not with-
out skill, by the wisdom of the world, and the intricate de-
ceits of their cogitations. There comes to storm them, and
in some sort environs and sits round them taking the Eph. vi.
shield of the faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the ' ''
word of God, every one who agonizes for the holy dogmas
of the Church, and sets himself in array with all his strength
against their false-speaking, studying to cast down imagina- 2 Cor. x.
tions, as Paul saith, and every high thing that exalteth itself '
against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every
thought to the obedience of Christ. When then, He says, such
a soldier of Christ compasses, as a land of aliens, the bitter
writings of heresies, and lights upon the best cultivated trees,
that is, if he find words from the Divinely-inspired Scripture,
or things spoken by the Prophets or even testimonies from
the New Testament, wrested unto their own purpose, let him
not apply his mental acumen, like a sort of tool, to destroy
and cut them down. For not because taken hold of by those
who know not to interpret it aright, is therefore that which
proceeds of the Mouth of God to be wholly rejected too : but
since it is fruit-bearing, it shall be to thee rather as a help
b 2 .
#
God accepts the offerings
Mi-
\.m
!l!
Ib. 20.
Intro- and for food. For turning round unto the right argument
' of the faith that which is sometimes foolishly taken by them,
not only shall we not be caught unstrung, but rather are
we nerved into words against heresy. But he subjoins forth-
with an argument persuading the hearers, that the onslaught
of the advocate for the truth should be made, not for the over-
* throw of the Divine oracles, but for the destruction of what
5eut. xx. i s non-rightly said by the opponents. For is, it says, the
tree of the forest a man, to go before thee unto the palisade ?
For do you suppose, he says, that the utterance of the
' boly writings, will of its own self rise up against thee to battle,
like one of the arch-heretics, and is not rather wronged
by their madness ? Do not then cut it down, says it,
but let it be to thee as food also; only the trees which
thou lenowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt
destroy and cut them down. For uneatable by them who
would think aright, is the fruit of those men's writings :
against them let every tool come : there let the might of the
spiritual wood-men be shewn, upon them let the axe of
strength in advocacy glitter. For the uselessness and un-
profitableness of the babbling of the heterodox the Prophet
Hosea also most excellently interprets to us saying : A stalk
having no strength to yield meal ; if so be it yield, the strangers
» shall swallow it up. For they that are diligent to estrange
themselves from friendship with God, shall feast themselves
on the weak and old-wife tale of those people's unlearning.
As then I was saying at the beginning (for I think we must
go back to that), most exceeding hard is the exposition of the
Divine mysteries, and better perchance were silence, but since
thy much speech persuadeth us, O most labour-loving bro-
Heb. xiii. ther, to offer the work, as a sort of fruit of our Ups, and
spiritual sacrifice, this too will I not shrink from doing, en-
couraging myself in God who maketh wise the blind, and
seeketh at our hands not surely that which is above us, but
accepteth equally the offerings of poor men. For him that
would offer a gift for a burnt-sacrifice to the Lord, as is put
in the beginning of Leviticus, the lawgiver having enjoined
Lev.i.3-9. an offering of the herd and having moreover herein set down
Hosea
viii- 7.
of poor men. 5
the measure of the honour of the type, he again lowers it, say- **™^
ing that they who cannot attain to this, should sacrifice of Lev. i. 10,
the flock. And well did he know that sad and inexorable
poverty will render some powerless even to this : therefore
he says, he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or of young lb. 14.
pigeons. But him that comes yet short of these too, and ap-
proaches with the most insignificant offerings, he honours.
For says he, his offering shall be fine flour, defining an offering Ib.ii. 1.
easily procurable I suppose by every one and not too op- ^
pressive to the deepest poverty. For the lawgiver well
knew (I think) that better and more excellent is it to bear
fruit even a little, than to be wholly bereft of it and through
shame of seeming to come short of others' gifts, to rush for-
ward to the conclusion that it needs not to honour the Lord
of all.
Persuaded then with reason by all these things, and hav-
ing dismissed from my mind unreadiness, the ally of silence,
I will deem it my duty to honour my Lord with what I have,
discourse wholesome and joyous to the readers, like fine
flour bedewed with oil: and we will begin the Book of lb. ii. l.
John, taking in hand an exceeding great work, yet by rea-
son of faith, not unstrung. And that we shall say and think
less than is meet, we must unhesitatingly confess. But the
great difficulty of the book, or to speak more truly, the
weakness of our understanding, will persuade us to ask meet
pardon for this.
Turning about on every hand our discourse to the more
dogmatical exposition, we will set it in array, according to
our power, against the false doctrines of them that teach lTin.vi.
otherwise, not stretching it forth to its full extent, but even 3-
retrenching superfluity, and studying to render it not lack-
ing fitness. The subjoined subscription of the chapters,
will shew the subjects over which our discourse extends,
to which we have also annexed numbers, that what is sought
may be readily found by the readers.
w
mmWLXMnjfiamm»
I
CHAPTERS IN BOOK I.
ah
" i
Chapter 1. That Everlasting and before the ages is the Only-
Begotten, on the words, In the beginning- was the Word.
Chapter 2. That the Son being Consubstantial with the Father is
also God in His own Person, even as also the Father, on the words,
And the Word was with God.
Chapter 3. That the Son is also God by Nature, in nowise
either inferior to, or unlike the Father, on the words, And the
Word was God.
Chapter 4. Against those who dare to say, that the conceived and
natural Word in God the Father is one, and He that is called Son
by the Divine Scriptures another (such is the misconceit of
Eunomius' party), on the words, This was in the beginning with
God.
Chapter 5. That the Son is by Nature Creator with the Father,
as being of His Essence, and not taken to Him as a minister,
on the words, All things were made by Him.
Chapter 6. That the Son is by Nature Life, and therefore not
originate, but of the Essence of God the Father, on the words,
That which was made, in it was Life.
Chapter 7. That the Son is \>y Nature Light, and therefore not
originate, but of the Essence of God the Father as Very Light"
from Very Light, on the words, And the Life was the Light of
men.
Chapter 8. That the Son of God alone is Very Light, the creature
not at all, being participate of Light, as originate, on the words,
He was the Very Light.
Chapter 9. That the soul of man does not exist prior to the body,
nor is the embodiment a consequence of former sins, as some say,
on the words, He was the Very Light which lighteth every man
that cometh into the world: He was in the world.
Chapter 10. That the Only-begotten is alone by Nature the Son
from the Father, as being of Him and in Him, on the words,
No man hath seen God at any time.
EXEGETIC COMMENTARY
ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN
OF OUR
HOLY FATHER CYRIL
Archbishop of Alexandria.
BOOK I.
Exact of a truth, and God-taught is the mind of the holy
Evangelists, from the splendour of their power to behold,
as from some lofty mountain-spur and watch-peak, on
all sides observing what is of profit to the hearers,
and tracking with intent zeal whatever may seem to be
of profit to those who thirst after the truth of the Divine
dogmas and with good purpose search after the mind
that is hidden in the Divine Scriptures. For not in those
who search too curiously, and take pleasure in the many-
tangled wiles of reasonings, rather than rejoice in the truth,
does the Spirit make His revelation, since neither does He
enter into a malicious soul, nor otherwise does He suffer His
precious pearls to be rolled at the feet of swine. But with
exceeding pleasure does He have fellowship with simpler
minds, as having a more guileless motion 1 , and shunning
superfluous subtleties, whereto specially pertains the meet-
ing with sudden fear, and from too great turning aside unto
the right hand to err from the straight and royal road. For
he that waTketh simply walketh surely, as saith Solomon.
But while the holy Evangelists have a marvellous exact-
ness in writing (for it is not they that speak, as the Saviour
saith, but the Spirit of the Father which is in them) : reason-
ably may one grant that the Book of John has been composed
beyond all marvel, looking both to the supereminence of his
thoughts, the keenness of his intellect, and the constant and
Wisdom i.
4.
S. Matt.
vii. 6.
Kivnixa
Prov. x.y.
S.Matt.x.
20.
"$. Jb/m writes on the Son's Eternal Generation.
Book I.
S.Matt.i,
S. Luke
Prov.xxv
2.
Isaiah xl
12.
1 Tim. vi.
3.
S. Lukei
2.
Infra i. 1
2.
close-succeeding cumulation of conceptions. For course-
fellows are they one with, another in the exposition of the
Divine dogmas,, and loosing as it were from the starting line
they course charioteers to one goal. But a diverse fashion
of speech is wrought out by them, and they appear to me to
resemble persons, who are ordered to come together unto
one city, but care not to approach it by one and the same
beaten road. Thus one may see the other Evangelists with
great exactness giving the account of our Saviour's
genealogy in the Flesh, and bringing down step by step
those from Abraham unto Joseph, or again carrying
up those from Joseph to Adam. But we find the blessed
John not caring to be over- studious about these, but with a
most fervent and fire-full motion of intellect endeavouring
to lay hold of those very things that are above human mind,
and daring to explain the unspeakable and unutterable Gene-
ration of God the Word. For he knew that the glory of
God hideth speech, and greater than our idea and utterance is
the God-befitting dignity, and hard to utter and most diffi-
cult of unfolding are the properties of the Divine Nature.
But since it was necessary in some sort to mete out hea-
ven with the span, and to suffer the scant measures of human
nature to approach to what is by all unattainable and hard to
be explained, that the approach might not be opened out for
, those who teach otherwise to come against the more simple,
_ in that no voice of the saints who have been eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word held in check their ill-surmisings,
keen comes he to the very essence of the Divine dogmas,
, crying aloud, In the beginning was the Word, and th$. Word
was with God and the Word was God : the Same was in the
beginning with God.
But I think that those who are engaged on the Holy
Scriptures ought to admit all writings that are honest and
good and free from harm. For thus collecting together the
varied thoughts of many and bringing them together into
one scope and understanding, they will mount up to a good
measure of knowledge, and imitating the bee, wise work-
woman, will compact the sweet honeycomb of the Spirit.
Origin of S. John writing his Gospel.
Some then of those of most research, say that after our
Saviour's Cross and Ascension into Heaven, certain false
shepherds and false teachers falling like wild beasts on the
Saviour's flocks terrified them not a little, speaking out of
their own heart, as it is written, and not out of the mouth of the
Lord ; yea rather, not merely out of their own heart, but out
of the teachings of their own father, I mean the devil. For
if no one can call Jesus Anathema, save in Beelzebub, how
is not what we say of them clearly true ? What things then
are they which these men belched forth against their own
head? They ignorantly and impiously affirmed that the
Only-Begotten Word of God, the Eternal Light, in Whom
we both move and are, was then first called into being,
when He was born Man of the Holy Virgin, and taking this
our common fashion, shewed Himself upon earth, as it is writ-
ten, and conversed with men. On those then who are thus
disposed, and who dare to slander the ineffable and eternal
Generation of the Son, the word of the Prophet comes heavily,
saying thus : But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the
seed of the adulteress and the whore, against whom do ye sport
yourselves ? against whom make ye a wide mouth and draw
out the tongue ? not bringing forth good things out of a
good heart, but spueing forth the venom of the blood-defiled
dragon, of whom saith the Psalmist unto the one God
That is over all : Thou bralcest the heads of the dragons
in the waters. •
But since there was no slight disturbance in regard to
these things amongst them that had believed, and the ill of
the scandal thereof was consuming like a plague the souls
of the simpler (for some drawn away from the true doctrines
by their prattle imagined that the Word was then barely
called to the beginning of Being, when He became Man),
those of the believers who were wiser being assembled and
met together, came to the Disciple of the Saviour (I mean
this John) and declared the disease that was pressing upon
the brethren, and unfolded to him the prattle of them that
teach otherwise, and besought that he would both strenuously
assist themselves with the illumination through the Spirit,
•Book I.
Jer. xxiii.
16.
1 Cor. xii.
3.
Acts xvii.
28.
Baruch
iii. 37.
Isaiah
lvii.jfe4.
Ps. lxxiv.
13.
10 8. John begins with the Son's Eternal Generation.
Book I. and stretch forth a saving hand to those who were already
within the devil's meshes.
The disciple grieving then over them that were lost and
corrupted in mind, and at the same time thinking it most
unnatural to take no forethought for those that should succeed
and come after, betakes himself to making the book : and
the more human side, the genealogy of the legal and natural
Birth according to the flesh, he left to the other Evange-
lists to tell at fuller length ; himself with extreme ardour and
courage of soul springs upon the prattle of those who are
introducing such things, saying, in the beginning was
THE WOKD.
Mi
CHAPTER I.
That Everlasting and before the ages is the Only-Begotten.
What do they say to this [namely, In the beginning was
the Word] who introduce to us the Son, as one new and of
late, that so He may no longer be believed to be even God
at all. For, says the Divine Scripture, there shall no new God Ps. lxxxi.
be in thee. How then is He not new, if He were begotten in " ■
the last times ? How did He not speak falsely when He
said to the Jews, Verily I say unto you, Before Abraham was, Infra viii.
I am ? For plain is it and confessed by all, that many ages
after the blessed Abraham was Christ born of the Holy
Virgin. How at all will the words was in the beginning re-
main and come to anything, if the Only-Begotten came into
being at the close of the ages ? See I pray by the following
arguments too how great absurdity, this cutting short the
Eternal Being of the Son, and imagining that He came into
being in the last times, yields.
But this same word of the Evangelist shall be proposed
again for a finer test :
In the Beginning was the Word.
Than the beginning is there nothing older, if it have, re-
tained to itself, the definition of the beginning (for a begin-
ning of beginning there cannot be) ; or it will wholly depart
from being in truth a beginning, if something else be ima-
gined before it and arise before it. Otherwise, if any-
thing can precede what is truly beginning, our language
respecting it will go off to infinity, another beginning ever
cropping up before, and making second the one under
investigation.
There will then be no beginning of beginning, according
to exact and true reasoning, but the account of it 1 will re- ' & *jpl
cede unto the long-extended and incomprehensive. And \6yos.
12 "Beginning" the mostbackward 'pointthatthoughtcanreach.
[]#'
1 m
Book I. since its ever-backward flight has no terminus, and reaches
up to the limit of the ages, the Son will be found to
have been not made in time, but rather invisibly existing
with the Father : for in the beginning was He. But if
He was in the beginning, what mind, tell me, can over-leap
the force of the was ? When will the was stay as at
its terminus, seeing that it ever runs before the pursuing
♦ reasoning, and springs forward before the conception that
follows it ?
Astonishment-stricken whereat the Prophet Isaiah says,
Who shall declare His generation ? for His Life is lifted from
the earth. For verily lifted from the earth is the tale of the
generation o.f the Only-Begotten, that is, it is above all un-
derstanding of those who are on the earth and above all rea-
son, so as to be in short inexplicable. But if it is above
our mind and speech, how will He be originate, seeing that
our understanding is not powerless to clearly define both as
to time and manner things originate ?
Isaiah
liii. 8.
LXX.
"* To look in another way at the same, In the Beginning" was
the Word.
It is not possible to take beginning, understood in any
way of time, of the Only-Begotten, seeing that He is before
all time and hath His Being before the ages,. and, yet more,
the Divine Nature, shuns the limit of a terminus. For It
will be ever the same, according to what is sung in the
Ps.cii. 27. Psalms, But Thou art the Same and Thy years shall have
no end. From what beginning then measured in respect
of time and dimension will the Son proceed, Who endureth
not to hasten to any terminus, in that He is God by
Infra xiv. Nature, and therefore crieth, lam the Life ? For no beginning
will ever be conceived of by itself that does not look to its
own end, since beginning is so called in reference to end,
end again in reference to beginning. But the beginning we
are pointing to in this instance is that relating to time and
dimension. Hence, since the Son is elder than the ages them-
selves, He will be free of any generation in time ; and He
ever was in the Father as in a Source, according to that which
Examples of co -existence and in-existence together. 13
Si-
He Himself said, I came forth from the Father and am come. Chap. I.
The Fatter tli en being considered as the Source, the Word was *g fra XV1 *
in Him, being His Wisdom and Power and Express Image
and Radiance and Likeness. And if there was no time
when the Father was without Word and Wisdom and Express
Image and Radiance, needs is it to confess too that the Son
Who is all these to the Everlasting Father, is Everlasting.
For how at all is He Express Image, how Exact Likeness,
except He be plainly formed after that Beauty, Whose Like-
ness He also is ?
Nor is it any objection to conceive of the Son being in
the Father as in a Source : for the word source here only
means the " whence." But the Son is in -the Father,.
and of the Father, not as made externally, nor in time, but
being in the Essence of the Father and flashing forth from
Him, as from the sun its radiance, or as from fire its in-
nate <heat. For in such examples, one may see one thing
generated of another, but yet ever co-existing and inseparable,
so that one cannot exist of itself apart from the other, and
yet preserve the true condition of its own nature. For
how can there be sun which has not radiance, or how
radiance without sun being within to irradiate it? how
fire, if it have not heat ? whence heat, save from fire, or from
some other thing not removed from the essential quality of
fire ? As then in these, the in-existence of the things that
are of them does not take away their co-existence, but in-
dicates the things generated ever keeping pace with their
generators and possessed of one nature so to speak with
them, so too is it with the Son. For even if He be conceived
and said to be in the Father and of the Father, He will not
come before us as alien and strange and a Being second to Him,
but as in Him and co- existing ever, and shining forth from
Him, according to the ineffable mode of the Divine generation.
But that God the Father is spoken of by the saints too as
the Beginning of the Son in the sense only of "whence," hear
the Psalmist through the Holy Ghost foretelling the second
Appearance of our Saviour and saying as to the Son : With Ps. ex. 3.
Thee the Beginning in the Day of Thy Power in the beauty of
14
Beginning " may also mean Sovereignty.
Book I. Thy Saints. For the day of the Son's Power is that whereon
He shall judge the world and render to every one according
to his works. Yerily shall He then come, Himself in the
Father, and having in Himself the Father, the so to say
unbeginning Beginning of His Nature in regard only to the
" whence/'' by reason of His Being of the Father.
lUl
If \U
• r
I ;
I*'
I ;
;w
In the Beginning was the Word.
Unto many and various ideas does our discourse respect-
ing the here signified beginning diversify itself, on all sides
zealous to capture things that tend to profit, and after the
manner of a hound, tracking the true apprehension of the
Infra v.39. Divine dogmas, and exactitude in the mysteries. For search,
saith the Saviour, the Holy Scriptures, for in them ye think
ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of Me.
The Blessed Evangelist, then, seems here to name the
Father 'Ap%?) a , that is the Power over all, that the Divine
Nature Which is over all may be shewn, having under Its
feet every thing which is originate, and borne above those
things which are by It called into being.
In this 'Ap^rj then that is above all and over all was the
Word, not, with all things, under Its feet, but apart from all
things, in It by Nature as Its Co-Eternal Fruit, having the
Nature of Him Who begat Him as it were a place the most
ancient of all. Wherefore He Begotten Free of Free Father,
'Apxh will with Him possess the Sovereignty 2 over all. What
then now too will be the nature of the argument in this, it
is meet to see.
Hazardful have certain, as we said above, asserted that
the Word of God was then first called into being, when tak-
ing the Temple that is of the Holy Virgin He became Man
for us. What then will be the consequence, if the Son's
Nature be thus, or originate and made and of like nature
with all things else, to which birth out of not being, and the
name and fact of servitude, are rightfully and truly predi-
cated ? For what of things that are made can with im-
punity escape servitude under the Grod That is Lord of all ?
a Taking 'Apxb to include its meaning of Sovereignty.
(■MB
" Was " prior to any beginning.
15
what does not stoop under the sovereignty and power and Chap. I.
lordship that is over all, which Solomon himself too signi-
fies to us when he says, For the throne of Sovereignty is Prov. xvi.
established with righteousness ? For ready and exceeding pre-
pared unto righteousness is the Throne of the Sovereignty,
that I mean which is over all. And what throne that is of
which we are now speaking, hear God saying by one of the
Saints, The Heaven is My Throne. Ready therefore unto Isa.lxvi.5.
righteousness is the Heaven, that is, the holy spirits in the
heavens.
Since then one must needs confess that the Son is
with the rest of- the creatures subject to God the Fa-
ther, as having the position of a servant, and together
with the rest falling under the authority of the 'Ap^r), if He
be according to them late in Birth and one of those who
have been made in time : — of necessity does the Blessed
Evangelist spring with energy on those who teach otherwise,
and withdraw the Son from all bondage. And he shews
that He is of the Essence that is Free and Sovereign over all,
and declares that He is in Him by Nature saying, In the
beginning was the Word.
But to the word 'Ap^ he fitly annexes the was, that He
may be thought of as not only of renown, but also before
the ages. For the word was is here put, carrying on the
idea of the thinker to some deep and incomprehensible Ge-
neration, the Ineffable Generation that is outside of time.
For that was, spoken indefinitely, at what point will it rest,
its nature being ever to push forward before the pursuing
mind, and whatever point of rest any might suppose that it
has, that it makes the starting point of its further course ?
The Word was then in the 'Ap^, that is in Sovereignty
over all things, and possessing the dignity of Lord, as
being by Nature from It. But if this be true, how is He
any longer originate or made ? And where the was wholly
is, how will the " was not " come in, or what place will it
have at all as regards the Son ?
i
i
I.- jj:
it
uli
l4»j
111
fffctT
Heb.
12.
CHAPTER II.
That the Son being Consubstantial with the Father is also God in
His Own Person, even as also the Father.
And the Word was with God.
Having- sufficiently shewn that already out of date and as-
tray from the truth is the senseless mind of those who hold
such opinions, and having, by saying In the beginning was
the Word, closed every loophole to those who say that the
Son is of the things that are not, and having utterly stripped
off all their nonsense in these words, he goes to another akin
and most perverse heresy. And like as some gardener at
once most excellent and enduring, delights much in the toils
of the mattock, and girding his loins, and in the working-
dress befitting him, gives all diligence to present the appear-
ance of his park free from the unseemliness of thorns, and
ceases not throwing one upon another, and, ever going round
about, removes the troublesome root, applying the stern
tooth of the mattock ; so the blessed John too, bearing in his
iv. mind the quick and powerful and most sharp word of God
and considering with keenest glance and clearest attention
the bitter shoots of the naughtiness of those who think
otherwise, comes upon them so to speak at a run, and with
mighty resolution cuts them off on every side, to those who
read his books ministering defence in the right faith.
For see now again I pray, the vigilance of this bearer with-
in him of the Spirit. He taught in the foregoing, that the
Word was in 'Apxv> that is, in God the Father, as we said.
But since, with the eye of his understanding illumined, he was
not ignorant, as we may suppose, that certain would arise,
of their great ignorance saying that the Father and Son are
one and the same, and distinguishing the Holy Trinity only
The Father and Son distinct in Person.
17
by name, but not suffering; Them to exist in Their several Chap - H-
CAP, i« 1,
Persons, so that the Father should be conceived of as in
truth Father and not Son, the Son again to be by Himself
Son, not Father, as the word of truth is : — needs against
this heresy too as already confronting him, and mooted at that
time, or about so to be, does he arm himself, and for its de-
struction, by the side of In the beginning was the Word he
puts forthwith, And the Word was with God : every where
adding of necessity the was on account of His Generation be-
fore the ages, yet by saying that the Word was with God,
shewing that the Son is One, having existence by Himself,
God the Father again, with Whom was the Word, Another.
For how can that which is one in number be conceived of
as itself with itself, or beside itself?
But that the reasoning of the heretics about these things
also will be found without learning, we will teach by the
considerations below, making an exact test of the questions
regarding it.
Proof by demonstration and Scripture testimonies, that the
Father is in His Own Person, and the Son likewise, the
Holy Ghost being counted with Them as God, even though
nothing is for the present enquired into regarding Him.
Consubstantial is the Son with the Father and the Father
with the Son, wherefore They arrive at an unchangeable
Likeness, so that the Father is seen in the Son, the Son in
the Father, and Each flashes forth in the Other, even as the
Saviour Himself says, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Infra
. xiv% 9.
Father, and again, I in the Father and the Father in Me. But ib. id.
even though He be in the Father, and have again the Father
in Him, Himself full well, as has been already said, perfectly
exact unto the Form of Him Who begat Him, and depicting
again in Himself without any shortcome, the Father whence
He is : — not therefore will He be deprived of His separate ex-
istence, nor will the Father lose His own special Being ; but
neither will the surpassing Likeness and Resemblance work
any confusion of Persons, so that the Father Who begat and
the Son Who is Begotten of Him should be considered as one
vol. i. c
18
The Father and the Son One in Essence,
I
ml
Book I. in number. But sameness of Nature will be confessed of
Both, yet the Individual Existence of Each will surely
follow, so that both the Father should be conceived of as
indeed Father, and the Son as Son. For thus, the Holy Ghost
being numbered with them and counted as. God, the Holy
and Adorable Trinity will have Its Proper Fullness.
Another. If the Son Himself is Father too, what place
has the distinction of names ? For if He begat not at all,
why is He called Father ? How Son, if He were not begot-
ten of the Father? For the Names ask as of necessity
such an idea regarding them. But since the Divine
Scriptures preach that the Son was Begotten, and the truth
is so, He has therefore an existence by Himself. The Fa-
ther too is again by Himself, if indeed that which is begot-
ten is plainly one thing from another as regards that
which begets.
Another. The blessed Paul writing his letter to the
Phil.ii.6. Philippians says of the Son, Who being in the Form of God,
thought it not robbery to be Equal with God. Who then
is He Who would not that His being Equal with God should
be thought robbery ? For must one not needs say, that
One is He Who is in the Form of God, Another again He
Whose Form it was ? But this is clear and confessed by all.
Therefore not one and the same in number are Father and
Son, but of distinct Being and beheld in One Another, accord-
ing to sameness of Essence, even if They be One of One, to
wit the Son of the Father.
Another. I and My Father are One, said the Saviour, as
knowing, that is, that Himself has a separate existence and
the Father too. But if the truth of the fact be not so, why
did He not, keeping what belongs to oneness, say, I and My
Father am One ? But since He explains what He means by
the plural number, clearly He overthrows the surmise of
those who think otherwise. For we are will not be with
sense taken of one.
Another. At the fashioning of man the voice of God is
Gen. i. 26. introduced saying, Let 'Us make man in Our Image, after
Our likeness. If then the amplitude, if I may so call it, of
Infra x
30. •
distinct in Person.
19
the Holy Trinity is contracted into a One in number, Chap. II.
and they impiously take away from the Father and the
Son Their separate Existence : who is he who says, and to
whom, Let us make man in Our Image ? For He ought
forsooth to say, if it be as they in their silly nonsense
say, Let us make man in my image, after my likeness. But
now the writer of the Book, not saying this indeed, but
allotting the creation to the plural number and adding Our
image, well-nigh with clear and mighty voice proclaims
the enumeration of the Holy Trinity to be above One.
Another. If the Son is the Brightness of the Father, as Heb. i. 3.
Light of Light, how is He not other than Him, as of distinct
Being ? For that which is the embrightened, is so in very
deed from other, that namely which brightens it, and not
itself from itself.
Another, The Son shewing Himself of the Essence of
God the Father says again, I came forth from the Father and £" fra xvi -
am come ; again I go to the Father. How then will He not
be Other than the Father in Person and number, when all
reason persuades us to conceive of that which proceeds from
ought as other than that from whence it proceeded ? ISTot
true therefore is the contrary argument.
Another. Believing in God the Father, in His Only-Be-
gotten Son, and in the Holy Ghost we are justified. Where-
fore the Saviour Himself too enjoins His own Disciples saying
Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the S. Matt.
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.
If then the difference of the Names is to contribute nothing
to our conception, but when one says the Father, he
means the Son, and in naming the Son makes mention of
the Father, what need was there of bidding that the be-
lievers should be baptized not into Unity but into Trinity ?
But since the tale of the Divine Nature runs forth into the
number three, it is I suppose wholly manifest to all that
Each of those so numbered exists in His Own Person, but
by reason of there being no change in the Nature, It arrives
at One Godhead and has the same worship.
Another. The Divine Scripture says that the cities of the
c 2
xxviii. 19.
':■:
t J
Book I.
cap. i. 1.
Gen
24.
Ps. xi. 6.
Ps. xliii.
3.
Infra viii.
12;xiv.6.
Col. i. 16,
The Father and the Son One in Essence,
Sodomites were burned by the Anger of God, and explain-
ing how the Divine wrath was brought upon them, and clearly
describing the mode of the destruction, The Lord, it says,
rained upon Sodom brimstone and fire from the Lord, since this
too is the portion of the cup most befitting those who are wont
to commit such sins. What Lord then from what Lord sent
the fire on and consumed the cities of the Sodomites ? It is
clear that it was the Father Who worketh all things through
the Son, since He is too His Might and His Arm, Who caused
Him to rain the fire upon the Sodomites. Since therefore
the Lord sends the fire from the Lord upon them, how
is not the Father Other, in respect to His own Being, than
the Son,, and the Son again than the Father ? For the One
is here signified as being from One.
Another. Moved by prophetic spirit, and through it fore-
knowing things to come, the blessed Psalmist had per-
ceived that the human race could no otherwise be saved,
except by the alone Appearing of the Son of God, Who is
able easily to trans-order all things to whatsoever He will.
Wherefore he besought that the Son might be sent to us, as
alone able to save those who were under subjection and op-
pression of the devil, and said, as though to God the Father,
send out Thy Light and Thy Truth. What then the Light
is, and what the Truth, hear the Son Himself saying, I am the
Light and I am the Truth. But if the Light and the Truth
of the Father, that is the Son, be sent to us, how is He not
Other than He, as far as His own Being, even if He be One
with Him as regards Sameness of Essence ? For if any ima-
gine that it is not so, but that Father and Son are one and the
Same, why does not he who bears within him the Spirit
make the fashion of his prayer different and cry, Come to
us, Light and Truth ? But since he says send out,
plainly he knew that One is the Sender, Another the Sent :
be the mode of the Sending conceived of as befits God.
Another. The Divine Scriptures say, that through the Son
were made all things that a,re in heaven and that are in earth,
visible and invisible, and thus believing, we the worshippers
of the truth go on our way in rightness of conception,
distinct in Person.
21
and within the dogmas of piety. Let us then scrutinize the Chap. II.
expression through the Son, and examine what sense it gives
us. It is clear that it would have us conceive of the Doer
and Worker as One, Him through Whom all things are
wrought as Another. For the expression through the
Son gives, as of necessity, a sort of exhibition of two Persons.
Else let them say how the word through the Son in His being
said to do anything, will rightly and truly admit the one in
number and in the reckoning thereto pertaining, if none
other be conceived of with Him and concurring with Him.
But I suppose that our opponent will be wholly at a loss.
But since both the Divine Scriptures proclaim that the
Father hath wrought all things through the Son, and we
believe it and I suppose that they too : how is it not of
necessity to conceive that the Father exists separately and
by Himself, and in like manner the Son, nor does this any
way overthrow the fact that the Holy Trinity is seen in
sameness of Essence.
CHAPTER III.
tw
M *
il,
:M
,!'«,
That the Son is both God by Nature and in no wise either inferior
to or unlike the Father.
And the Word was God.
He who bare within him the Spirit was not ignorant that
there should arise some in the last times who should accuse
2S.Pet.ii. the Essence of the Only Begotten and deny the Lord that
bought them, by supposing that the Word Who appeared
from God the Father is not by Nature God, but should bring
in besides Him some so to speak spurious and false-called
god, having about him the name of Sonship and Deity, but
not so in truth. Such do they, who give the Jewish impiety
of Arius an abode in their own mind ; wherefore they put
forth out of a dead heart, no life-giving word of pious thought,
Jer. ix.8. but that which looketh and tendeth unto death. Their
tongue verily is as an arrow shot out ; deceitful the words of
- their mouth.
As though then some one were already resisting the words
of truth, and were almost saying to the Holy Evangelist ;
The Word was with God, Sir, be it so, we agree fully to
what you have written as to this. Be the Father and»Exist
He separately, and the Son likewise. What now ought one
to suppose that the Word is by Nature ? for His Being with
God, does not at all reveal His Essence. But since the
Divine Scriptures proclaim One God, we will allot this to
the Father only, with Whom the Word was. What then
replies Truth's herald ? Not only was the Word with God,
but He was also God, that through His being with God, He
might be known to be Other than the Father and might be
believed to be Son distinct and by Himself ; through being
The Son in nothing less than the Father.
23
God. He might be conceived of as Consubstantial and of Chap.
. . . III.
Him by Nature, as being both. God and coming forth from CAP . f. i.
God. For it were inconceivable, since the Godhead is by
all confessed to be One, that the Holy Trinity should not
in every wise arrive at Sameness of Essence and so reach
one relation of Godhead. He was then also God. He did
not become so at last, but He was, if indeed eternal
being will most specially and surely follow on being God :
for that which became in time, or was at all brought from
not being into being, will not be by Nature God.
Seeing then that God the Word has Eternity through the
word was, Consubstantiality with the Father through being
God, how great punishment and vengeance must we needs
think that they shall be found to incur, who think that He
is in ought whatever inferior, or unlike Him who begat Him,
and shudder not to go forward to that height of impiety, as
even to dare to utter such things to others also, understand- 1 Tim. i.
7.
ing neither what they say, nor whereof they affirm ?
But that the Son Who is of Him of a truth is in no wise
inferior to the Father, we shall know again from the accom-
panying considerations.
Another. By many and varied names do the Divine
Scriptures call the Son. For they say that He is the Wis-
dom and Power of the Father, according to what is said by
Paul, Christ the Power of God and the Wisdom of God. He 1 Cor - *•
. . . . 24.
is called again both His Light and His Truth, as is sung
in the Psalms by one of the Saints, send out Thy Light Ps - xli »-
and Thy Truth. He is called also Righteousness, as,
Quicken me in Thy Righteousness : for the Father quickens Ps. cxix.
in Christ those who believe on Him. He is called also the
Counsel of the Father, as it is said, Thou shalt guide me Ps.lxxiii.
with Thy Counsel, and again, The Counsel of the Lord stand- p s .xxxiii.
ethfor ever. Since then the Son is all these to God the '
Father, let them tell us who fawn on the error of Arius and
are filled with that man's folly, how He is lesser than He.
For if they be right, it is time to say that the Father is not
wholly wise, not wholly Mighty, not wholly Lights not
wholly Truth, not wholly Righteous, yea, not even Perfect
24
The Son Perfect God.
Book I. in Counsel, if the Son Who is all these to Him, by reason
of being inferior is shewn to be not Perfect. But to think
or say thus is impious. Perfect is the Father, because He
has all things perfectly in Himself: Perfect then clearly the
Son too, the Wisdom and the Power, the Light and the
Truth, the Righteousness and the Counsel of the Father.
But He Who fulfilleth Perfection in His own Father, how
can He be conceived of as inferior ?
Another. If the Son having inferiority to God the Fa-
ther, is worshipped both by us and by the Holy Angels, we
shall be taken in the act of serving two gods, since that
which lacks perfection will never attain to sameness of
• essence with the Perfect ; but vast is the difference sunder-
ing unto alienship things unlike as regards their nature.
But the faith is not in plurality of gods, but One is God
the Father, the Son and Holy Ghost attaining unto unity
with Him. The charge against the Son then comes
to nothing. For how yet will that which is inferior be ad-
mitted into unity with the Perfect Father, and be united as
to Nature in unity of Essence ?
Another. If the Son is fulness (for of His fulness have
all we received) how will what is inferior have a place ? for
things that are contrary to one another are irreconcileable
in one subject at the same time.
Another. If the Son who has the lesser filleth all things,
where will the greater of the Father have place ? For the
argument shall be used in more corporeal form, in the way
of example, while the superiority and inferiority in the un-
embodied is otherwise conceived of.
Another. If God is That Which is above every name, and
the Son Who is His Heir attains not to be Perfect by reason
of the lesser, there is no greatness in that which is above
all things, that is God. But it is absurd either to think or
to say this : Perfect therefore is the Son, as being above
every name, and God.
Another. If the Divine Nature is without quantity, and
the lesser is cognizant of degree, how can the Son Who is
by Nature God be conceived of as inferior ? For He will
Infra ver.
16.
The Son Perfect even as the Father.
25
1; V-
not be beyond the province of quantity, if they say that He
has inferiority to the Father.
Another. The blessed John says of the Son that a He
giveth not the Spirit by measure, to those that is who are
worthy. Since then there is not measure in the Son, He is
immeasurable, and surpasses all comprehension in quantity
as being God. How then is the not-measured less ?
Another. If the Son is lesser, the Father greater, dif-
ferently, it is plain, and in proportion to the measures that
Either hath, will they contribute to our sanctification. And
the Father will sanctify in a greater degree, the Son in a
less and separately. The Spirit therefore will be twofold,
and less in the Son, greater in the Father. And they who
are sanctified by the Father will be sanctified perfectly, they
who by the Son, not perfectly. But great is the absurdity
of reasoning herein. For One is the Holy Ghost, one and
perfect the Sanctification, freely given by the Father
through the Son Naturally. Not lesser then is He Who has
the same operation with the Perfect Father, and Who has the
Spirit of Him Who begat Him, a good of His own Nature,
Living and inexisting, even as the Father hath.
Another. If the Son were in the Form and Equality of
God, as Paul saith, how is He lesser that He ? For the
mode of the dispensation with Flesh and the humiliation
thereupon mentioned, which has the Second Appearance
from Heaven as its termination, will not, I suppose, bare
the Son of the dignity by Nature belonging to Him. For
He will surely come, as we heard Him say, in the glory of
His Father. How then is he at all in the glory of the Per-
fect Father who is inferior to Him ?
Another. God the Father is somewhere found to say by
one of the prophets, I will not give My glory unto another.
We must ask therefore those who impiously dishonour the
Son, nay rather through Him the Father too (for he that
honoureth not the Son, neither doth he honour the Father),
Chap.
III.
cap. i. 1.
Infra iii.
34.
Phil.ii.6.
S. Mark
viii. 28.
Is. xlviii.
11.
Infra v.
23.
■ "For God giveth not the Spirit hy which S. Cyril's copy of New Testa-
measure unto him." E. V. The Alex- ment plainly belonged) and the Codex
andrine family of Greek MSS, (to Sinaiticus, omit the nominative.
26
God the Son Perfect God.
Bpok I.
CAF. i. 1.
Dan. vii,
14.
Isaiah
xlviii. 11.
Infra ver
5.
Epli. iii.
16, 17.
1 &7rapci\-
\dKTOV
whether the Son being, as they suppose, less than God the
Father is Consubstantial with Him, or no ? If then they
shall say that He is Consubstantial, why do they for nought
put on Him the less ? For things that are of the same
essence and nature, will never have the greater in themselves,
as regards the mode of their being : for this altogether is it
that is under consideration.
But they will not perhaps agree, nor will grant that the
Son is Consubstantial with the Father, He being according
to them less : He will therefore be wholly other and alien from
the Father. How then has He His glory ? For there was
given Him, says blessed Daniel, glory and a kingdom. For
either God the Father will lie in saying, I will not give
My glory unto another : or if He is true, and did give His
glory to the Son, then is He not other than He, the Fruit of
His Essence and His True Offspring. And He Who is so
situated towards the Father in regard of Essence, how will
He be less than He ?
Others, simple and without connection. If the Father is
Almighty, and the Son likewise Almighty, how is He lesser
than He ? for I do not suppose that according to the law of
sequence, the imperfect will mount up to the measure of
the perfect. And if the Father is Lord, and the Son like-
wise Lord ; how is He less than He ? For He will be not
perfectly free, if He be less in lordship, and have not the
full dignity in Himself. And if the Father be Light, and
the Son likewise Light, how is He less than He ? For He
will be not perfectly Light, but will be in part comprehended
, by darkness, and the Evangelist will lie in saying, The dark-
ness comprehended it not. And if the Father is Life, and the
Son likewise Life, how is He less than He ? For in us life
will not exist in perfect measure, even if Christ dwell in the
inner man : but they who believe are still to some degree
dead, if so be that the Son having the less, is not perfectly
life. But since one must needs put as far away as possible
the absurdity of this, we say that Perfect is the Son, being
made equal to the Perfect Father by reason of the l exact
Likeness of His Essence.
The Son God, because Son. 27
Another* If the Son be less than the Father, and therefore Chap.
III.
not Consubstantial ; He is as a consequence other by nature cap. i*. l.
and wholly alien : hence He is not Son, yea not even God
at all. For how will he be called Son who is not of the
Father, or how will he be any longer God who is not of God
by Nature ? But since our faith is in the Son, we are still
it seems in error, not knowing the True God. But this is
absurd. Believing therefore in the Son, we believe in the
Father too and in the Holy Ghost. The Son is not there-
fore alien from God the Father as lesser, but has unity with
Him, by reason of being of Him by Nature, and is therefore
both Equal and Perfect.
Another. If God the Word Who beamed forth from God
the Father is in truth Son, of necessity must our opponents
even against their will confess that He is of the Essence
of the Father; for this is what sonship in truth means.
Then how is Such inferior to the Father, if He be Fruit of
His Essence, Which is nowise receptive of the lesser within
Itself? For all things are in perfect degree in God. But if
He be not of the Essence of the Father, neither is He Son,
but some counterfeit and falsely-called : yea neither will the
Father Himself be rightly and truly called Father. For if
there be no Son by Nature, on account of Whom He is
Father, how is He conceived of as Father ? But this is ab-
surd, for God is Yery Father; for so do all the Divine
Scriptures cry aloud. He Who is of Him by Nature is
therefore surely Son : if so, not lesser ; for He is Consub-
stantial as Son.
Another. The name of family or fathership not God has of
right from us, but we rather clearly received it from Him.
And trusty is the word of Paul crying on this wise, O/Eph. iii.
Whom every family in heaven and earth is named. But since
God is that which is most ancient of all, by imitation are we
fathers, who are called to His Pattern by reason of our
being made after His Image. Then how, tell me, are we
who are made after His Likeness, by nature fathers of
our own children, if this be not the case in the Archetype,
after Which we too have been formed ? How will any one
28 The Son God, lest the Father be inferior even to us.
i : m
V St :
i lit
/If
Book I. grant that the name of family or fathership passed even un-
to the rest from God, if He be not in very deed a Father ?
For, if it were so, the nature of the thing would be wholly
overturned and we should rather give to Him to be called
Father in imitation of us, than He give it to us. For this
the argument will compel the heretic even against his will
to admit. The witness therefore of the truth lies in saying
that from Him is every family both in heaven and earth.
But to say this is most absurd : for true is he who is
2Cor.xiii. bold to say, Do ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me ? and
from God does the name of family flow down to us also.
He is therefore by Nature the Father of the Word, He begat
Him in all respects not unlike Himself, through His having
the lesser than whatever Himself has. For we who are
made after an imitation of Him, do not so have those that are
begotten of us, but altogether equal, as regards the nature.
Another. Let not the heretic manifold in arguments deal
subtilly with the truth, nor confessing that the Word of
God is Son, honour Him in mere words, saying that He is
not of the Essence of the Father. For how is He Son at
all, except He be so by Nature ? Let them then either,
stripping off the mask of hypocrisy, blaspheme openly, con-
fessing that He is neither God nor Son : or if convicted by the
whole Divine Scripture and wounded by the words of the
Saints as by sling-stones they feel shame in presence of the
truth, and say that He is Son and God, let them not think
that He is lesser than He Who begat Him. For how will the
Word, being God, admit of the lesser, compared to God the
Father? although man too is both called and is son of man, yet
will he not be inferior to his father so far as he is man. For
\ man will not be greater or less than man, in respect of his be-
ing man, nor yet angel than angel, in regard of his being an-
gel, nor ought else of things that are that is con-natural to
any-thing whatsoever, and has a share of the same essence al-
lotted to it. Therefore if He is truly Son, one must needs say
that He is of the Essence of the Father, having all His Father's
properties in Himself of Nature. And if the Father be God
by Nature, God by Nature plainly is also the Word Who is
-v ^.
The S071 Equal to the Father, because not less. 29
begotten of That Nature. How then will God be less than c-haf.
. . in.
God in regard to being God ? CAP . i.'i.
Another. Whence, sirs, did ye get the daring to say that
the Son is in lesser condition than He Who begat Him ?
How will He admit the lesser ? As regards the date of being,
no one I suppose, even though exceeding silly, would surmise.
For before the ages is the Son, and Himself is the Maker
of the ages : and it will be with reason conceived that He
Who has His Generation elder than all time, will not be defined
by time. But neither is He lesser than He in the dimen-
sion that belongs to size : for the Divine Nature is con-
ceived of and is without size, dimension and body. How then
is the lesser to be taken of Him Who is begotten? In
glory, perhaps one will say, in power, in wisdom. Let them
say then, how great and large the Father is herein (if one
must speak thus), in order that the Son may be conceived
of as less, when measured with Him ? Or if the Father is in
good inconceiveable and immeasurable, and that far outstrips
the measure of our understanding, whence do the Arians,
readily daring all things, say that the Son is lesser, to the
overthrow of the dignity that belongs to Him by nature ? For
the lesser is proved by the juxtaposition of the greater ; but
if the Dignity of the Father is unmeasured, what is the proof
of its diminution in the Son ?
Another. One may indeed with truth reply to the abomi-
nation of the unholy heretics, Our enemies are without un- Deut.
derstanding. For how are they not full of all unlearning, LXX.
understanding neither what they say nor whereof they affirm, 1 Tim. i.
as Paul saith ? The reason why we think it needful to 7 '
accuse them is this. If they say that the Son is of a truth
begotten God of God the Father, and so believe, how is He
lesser than the Father ? For great absurdity of ideas will
hence be generated, on every side containing blasphemy,
and such that one would refuse only to hear them. For if the
Son being God by Nature can any whit admit in Himself
the lesser, we must needs at length conceive that there is
something greater than God. The Essence then of the
Father is not conceived of as being in Perfection of every
His!; i -..i.
I W1
I • ! ; ;
i!
if:
I'll-
tjjfo*
30
The Son Perfect, lest the
Book I.
cap. i. 1
thing, even though He be by Nature God, but He will Himself
progress in some direction towards the greater, convicted
in the Son His Image that He Himself too is of the essence
that admits the lesser. And He will suffer this virtually,
even if He have not yet suffered it ; since things that are
capable of ought, will altogether admit the things whereof
they are capable, and when the time calls them to suffer it,
they will not refuse it. But great is the blasphemy that is
apparent herein. For neither will the Father advance in
any direction towards the greater, nor yet will He ad-
mit of the lesser, by reason that He is by Nature God.
Therefore neither will the Son admit in Himself the lesser,
''fandTiov in that He too is God by Nature, lest the syllable or two 2
which was devised by the unlearning of the heretics, should
be imagined to be an accusal of the Essence that is
above all.
Another. If the Word of God the Father being by Nature
His Son is lesser than He, either in regard of God-befitting
Dignity, or as not by Nature Unchangeable, or in any sort
of inferiority, the accusal will be not so much of Him as of
the Essence Whereof He is believed to be, if It altogether
generate the lesser, or the worse, than Itself, although the
originate and constructed creation would not endure to do
such a thing. For everything that is fruit -bearing, brings
forth what is wholly like itself. But if they say that the
Divine Nature of the Father is above all passion, It will
manifestly be beyond this charge, and being the Archetype
of the good things that are in us, will beget the Son not
lesser, but Equal and Consubstantial, lest the God That is
so far above us be inferior even to us.
Another by the method of reductio ad absurdum. Christ
shewing that He is Equal with God the Father says to His
own Disciples, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
Then how will He that is by Nature Such, and so IS as Him-
self with truth declares, have the lesser, according to the
uncounsel of some ? For if being lesser He shews in Him-
self the Father, without any intervening change, the lesser
will reach to the Father, as appearing in His Unchanged
Infra xiv
9.
Father be imperfect.
31
] i'
Image, the Son. But this is absurd : therefore not lesser is Chap.
the Son, in whom the Father being Perfect is imaged, cap. i.i.
Another. And how will the Son admit the lesser, than
wherein is the Father, seeing that He says without blame,
All thinqs that the Father hath are Mine : and again, as to J" fra X X!-
ri i -n • • • 15: xvu *
Grod the Father, All Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine ? 10.
For if indeed the Son is, according to the uncounsel of some,
lesser; since He speaks truth in saying to the Father,
Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine, the lesser will make its
way to the Father too, and likewise the greater to the Son,
the order of things being indifferent, if what belongs to either
are seen in the other, and whatsoever is the Father's, this is
the Son's also, and again whatever appears as the special
property of the Son, this is the Father's too. Nothing then
will hinder our saying that the Father is lesser than the
Son, and the Son greater than the Father. But this is most
absurd only to conceive of : Equal therefore and not lesser
is He Who hath the Prerogatives of Essence in common with
the Father.
Another of the same. If all that the Father hath, are
wholly the Son's, and the Father hath Perfection, Perfect
will be the Son too, Who hath the properties and excellencies
of the Father. Therefore is He not lesser, according to the
impiety of the heretics.
Another by the method o/reductio ad absurdum, with combi-
nation of arguments. Let them tell us who are pouring down
the flame unquenchable on their own head, and who reject the
uprightness that is in the Divine Dogmas, devising wiles of
many-coloured arguments unto the deceiving and overthrow
of the simpler, whether the Father is superior to the Son, hav-
ing the greater in comparison with Him, if He be less, as they
in their silly talk say, or not ? But I entirely suppose that
they will say, He is superior : or let them say what advan-
tage the Father hath in possessing the greater, if He be not
superior. For if nothing at all, the whole charge against
the Son immediately comes to nought : but if there is any
great difference, He is then superior, as having the greater.
Let them answer then and tell us, if they are indeed wise,
Ili
m
32
Examples of things
%*\
CAP. i. 1,
Book I. why the Father begetting the Son, begat Him not Equal to
Himself but lesser. For if it were clearly better to beget
the Son in all things Equal to Himself, who hindered His
doing it ? For if there is ought that hindered as of necess-
ity, they will admit even against their will, that there is
somewhat greater than the Father. But if there were no-
thing at all to hinder, but having the power and knowing that
it is better to beget the Son equal He begot Him lesser,
this is plainly envy towards Him and an evil eye : for He
chose not to give equality to the Son. Either then the
Father is impotent in regard to His Begetting, or it will
be evil eye, according to the result collected out of the ar-
guments, if the Son have the lesser according to their ac-
count. But this is absurd; for the Divine and Untaint
Nature is above all passion. Therefore not less is the Son,
that He lose not the equality, the Father being in no wise
powerless to beget His Offspring equal to Himself, nor yet
hindered by evil eye from choosing the better.
Another. The Saviour Himself somewhere says that He
is in the Father and the Father likewise in Him. But it is
plain to every one, that we are not to suppose that like as
one body is in another, or one vessel in another, so the Fa-
ther is contained in the Son, or the Son again in some way
placed in the Father : but One appears in the Other, and
He in Him in the Unchanged Sameness of Essence, and in
the Unity and Likeness that belongs to Nature. As though
a person beholding his own form in an image were to say
truly to any, and marvelling at the finished likeness of
his figure to cry out, I am in this picture and this picture
in me.
Or in another way : — As if the sweetness of the honey when
laid on the tongue should say of itself, I am in the honey
and the honey in me ; or as though again the heat that
proceeds naturally from fire, emitting a voice were to say,
I am in the fire and the fire in me. For each of the things
mentioned is I suppose divisible in idea, but one in nature,
and the one proceeding by a sort of indivisible and con-
tinuous forthcome from the other, so as to seem to be even
Infra xiv
10.
'■■ -•
inexisting.
33
severed from that wherein it is. Yet though the force of c HA p
ideas regarding these things takes this form, still one appears n h
m the other and both are the same as regards essence If "*' "
then by reason of the unchangeableness of Their Essence
and the entire exactness in express Image, the Father is in
the Sop how will the greater find place and appear in the
bon Who is according to them lesser ? But since He is
wholly in Him, altogether Perfect is the Son, Who is able
to contain the Perfect and is the express Image of the
Mighty Father.
1 £
VOL. 1.
smm
CHAPTER IV.
Against those who dare to say that the conceived and Natural word
in God the Father is one, and He that is called Son by the
Divine Scriptures another: such is the misconceit of Eunomius'
party.
2 This was in the beginning with God.
The Evangelist herein made a sort of recapitulation of what
had been already before said. But adding the word This, he
is seen ail-but crying aloud, He Who is in the beginning,
the Word with the Father, He Who is God of God, He it is
and none other, regarding Whom our august book is set forth.
But he seems again not idly to add to what has been said
the words, This was in the beginning with God. For he, en-
lightened by the Divine Spirit unto the knowledge of things
to come, was not ignorant, as seems to me and as we may
■ truly say, that certain would appear, perdition's workpeople,
Prov. vii. the devil's nets, death's snares leading down to the chambers
1Q and depth of hell those who from unlearning give heed to
the things that them belch forth out of an evil heart. For
they will rise up and be valiant against their own head, say-
ing that one is the word that is conceived in God the Father,
and that some other most similar and like to the conceived
one, is the Son and Word through Whom God works all
things ; in order that He may be conceived of as word of
word and image of image and radiance of radiance.
The Blessed Evangelist then, as though he had already
heard them blaspheming and with reason stirred against the
absurd follies of their writings, having already defined, and
by many words, as was due, shewn that the Word is One,
and Only and Very, of God and in God and with God, with
27, ix. 18.
Blasphemies of Eunomius.
35
flashing eye he adds, This was in the beginning with God, as Chap.
Son, that is, with the Father, as inborn, as of His Essence, cap. i." 2.
as Only-Begotten ; This, there being no second.
But since I deem that we ought, zealously declaring such
impiety, to lay yet more open their blasphemy, for the greater
security of the simpler ones (for he who has learnt it will
give heed and will spring out of its reach, as though a serpent
lurking in the midst of the path), needs will I expose their Cf Gen.
opinion, after the form of antithesis. For it shall receive its
refutations in order, according to the modes which God who
giveth wisdom to all shall grant.
Eunomius' opinion as to the Son of God.
„ The Only-Begotten Son of God, says he, is not of veryright
„ His Word, but the conceived word of God the Father moves
„ and is ever in Him ; while the son who is said to have been
„ begotten of Him, becoming recipient of his conceived word,
„ knoweth all things from having learnt them and, after the
„ likeness of the former, is called and is word/'
Then in confirmation, as he imagines, of his blasphemy,
he weaves some such arguments of perverted ideas, that, as
it is written, the wretched man may be holden with the cords P rov - v -
of his sins.
„ If the Son Himself, says he, be the Word Natural and Con-
, ceived in God the Father, and is Consubstantial with Him
, Who begat Him, what hinders the Father too from being
, and being called Word, as Consubstantial with the Word ? "
And again : „ If the Son be the Word of God the Father and
, there is none other than He, by means of what word, says he,
, is the Father found saying to Him : Thou art My Son, this Ps. ii. 7.
, day have I begotten Thee ? For it is very clear that not with-
, out a word did the Father address Him, since every thing
, that is uttered, is altogether uttered in word, and no other-
, wise. And the Saviour Himself somewhere says, I Jcnoiv Infra viii.
, the Father and keep His saying, and again, The word ib.xiv.24.
, which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father's Which sent Me.
, Since then the Father addresses Himself to Him in word,
, and He Himself acknowledges, one while that He keeps
d 2
KJtfi
36
IFbrcfo uttered against the Son
Book I. „ the Father's word, at another again, that the Jews heard,
" „ not His word, but the Father's ; how will it not, he says, be
„ confessed beyond a doubt, that the Son is other than the
„ word that is conceived or that stands in motion of the mind,
„ whereof participating and replete, the utterer and exponent
,, of the Father's Essence, that is the Son, is called word V
Such ills then does the foolish man sow to himself and
gainsaying all the Divine Scriptures at once is not ashamed,
shewing that true is that which is written of himself, When
the wicked man cometh into the depth of evils, he despiseth.
For verily exceeding deep unto naughtiness hath the fighter
against Grod of his folly dug, refusing the uprightness that is
of truth, and halting with the rottenness of his own argu-
ments. For that the Only-Begotten Son of God the Father
is of very right His Word, we shall know by the subjoined.
Prov.
xviii. 3
LXX.
Wisdom i.
4.
2 Tim. iv.
4.
Jer. xxiii,
16.
1 Cor. xii.
3.
Micah iii
9.
Infra viii
55.
Ps. ex.
LXX.
II m
Refutation in order of the misconceit of Eunomius.
Slow to learn is the silly heretic. For how into a malicious
soul will wisdom at all enter ? or what, tell me, can be more
malicious than such men, who, as it is written, turn away
their ears from the truth and run more easily unto the fables
of their own cogitations, that justly too they may hear, ut-
tering things not of the Divine Scriptures, Woe to them
that prophesy of their own heart and not out of the mouth of
the Lord ? For who speaking out of the mouth of the Lord
calleth Jesus Anathema ? which thing indeed some do in un-
bridled haughtiness against the doctrines of piety, and as one
of the holy Prophets said, perverting all equity. For they
say that the natural and conceived word in Grod the Father
is one, him that is called Son and Word again another : and
they bring in support of their own, as they deem, opinion,
but more truly, their unbridled impiety, our Lord Jesus Christ
in His discourses with the Jews saying, i" know the Father and
keep His word : and moreover that which was said to Him
, by the Father, From the womb before the Day-star begat I
Thee. Then they say belching forth the venom of their own
father, If the speaker is other than he whom he addresses,
and the Father addresses the Son by word, the innate word
mere emptiness.
87
wherewith the Father conversed will be other than the Son.
And again : If, says he, the Son Himself declared that He
keeps the Father's word, how will not he that keepeth be
other than that which is kept ? To this it is perhaps not
hard to reply (for the Lord will give utterance to them that
evangelize with much power) . But those who are sick of such
unlearning ought to remember Him Who says, Ah they who
leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of
darkness, and for us it is meet that we should cry unto our
Guide Who is in the heavens, Turn away mine eyes from
beholding vanity. For vanity of a truth and rubbish and
nought else are the vain utterances of their uninstructedness.
For not as though He had another word of the Father in
Himself did the Son say that He kept the Father's word, nor
yet did He declare that He had come to us, bringing him with
Him as though a pedagogue, but as Alone in-being in the
Father by Nature, and having again likewise in Himself the
Father, none else intervening, I, says He, in the Father and. the
Father in Me, not the innate, nor yet any other word, but the
Father, in Me. How then ought one to conceive of what was
said by Him to the Jews, may one ask us, and that with rea-
son. To this we say with truth what comes up upon our
mind. The Saviour was teaching the most incredulous
people of the Jews and, drawing by little and little His
hearers from the worship of the law, did ofttimes call out to
them, I am the Truth, all but saying, Throw off, sirs, the
yoke of the law, receive the spiritual worship ; let shadow
now depart, type recede afar, the Truth hath beamed. But
He did not seem to all to be doing rightly, subverting
Moses' precepts, yea rather leading them to what was more
true, so that some even cried, If this man were of God, He
would not have broken the Sabbath, which was to openly
condemn of sin Him Who knew it not.
To such like follies then of the Jews He replying
puts away all boast in His words, and lowlily and darkly
designs to teach them, that the Son Who knows not sin
would not work ought other than seemed good to God the
Father ; lest saying more nakedly, I know not sin, He should
Chap.
IV.
cap. i. 2.
Ps. lxviii.
11.
LXX.
Prov. ii.
13.
LXX.
Ps. cxix.
37.
Infra xiv.
11.
lb. 6.
38
Christ Lawgiver and Laiu-keeper.
Book I.
cap. i. 2,
Infra x.
33.
1 f3ov\7)-
criv
2 rb Trpd-
crwirov
t)/j.?v iiro-
Kpiverai
" " 7.
Ps.
again stir them up to stone Him. For they straightway boiling
with wrath would have sprung upon Him saying, Not to sin
belongs to God Alone : Thou then being a Man, utter not
the things that beseem God Alone. Which thing they even
did at another time, saying that with reason do they stone Him,
because being a Man He makes Himself God. Obscurely
did the Saviour, in that He was both Man and as under the
law with those who were under the law, say that He kept
the Father's word, ail-but saying, I will never transgress
the Father's Will. For by stepping aside from the Divine
law is sin born, but I know not sin Who am God by Nature.
Therefore I offend not the Father in My teaching. For the
rest let no one find fault with Him Who is by Nature Law-
giver, but because of His Likeness unto us is Law-keeper.
But He says that He knows the Father, not simply as do we,
only the very same thing more simply for that He is God,
but from what Himself is does He declare that He under-
stands the Nature of the Father. But since He knows that
He Who begat Him knows not to endure change, He knows,
it is plain, that Himself is Unchangeable of an Unchangeable
Father. And that which knows not change, how can it be
said to sin, and not rather to stand unswerving in its own
natural endowments ?
Yain then is the accusal of the Jews imagining that the
Son thinks ought beside the Counsel 1 of the Father: for He
keeps, as He says, His word, and by Nature knows not sinning :
for He knows that the Father cannot suffer this, with Whom
He is Consubstantial as Yery Son. But since they meet this
by citing what has been annexed to their objection, From
the womb before the Day-star begat I Thee, come let us unfold
the word of piety as to this also. For not because the
Father says such things to the Son, ought we therefore to
think, that there is in Him an innate word and to conceive
of the Son as other than it. But first of all let us think this with
ourselves that a prophet versed in uttering mysteries in the
Spirit puts on for us the person 2 of the Son, and introduces
. Him hearing of the Father, Thou art My Son, and what follows.
And the form of speech, in that it is constructed after human
£f
Human language weak to express things Divine. 39
&
fashion, will not I presume at all compel us to conceive of two Chap.
words, but referring to our own habits [of speech] the un- CA p. i. 2
avoidable arrangement herein, we shall blame, if we do
rightly, the weakness of our own nature, which has neither
words, nor modes of idea which accurately serve unto the
mysteries that are above us, or that are adequate to express
faultlessly things more Divine : and to the Divine Nature
again we shall attribute the superiority over our mind and
speech, not conceiving of Its relations exactly as they are
spoken of, but as befit It and as It wills. Or if any of
the unholy heretics imagine that we unrightly abuse such
words, and do not admit that the form of speech comes
up to our usage of it, they will rightly hear : Let the Father
be conceived of as also begetting as we do, let Him not
deny the womb and the pangs of birth. For from the womb
begat I Thee, says He to the Son. But perchance, yea
rather of a certainty, they will say that from the likeness to us
the Father's True Begetting of the Son is signified. There-
fore let the other too be piously understood, even if it be
uttered in human guise, and their bitter and unholy diffi-
culty is solved.
And these things were, I suppose, sufficient. But since
we thought that we ought to smite down the difficulties
devised of their stubbornness (as it were some swarm of foes),
with the uprightness of pious dogmas, come let us now bring-
ing them forward in the manner befitting each, raise up against
each its opponent, and with more zealous thoughts 3 let us
arm against them the ever victorious truth. The objec-
tion again, as from them, shall be set forth in order before
the arguments which confute it, inciting the vigilance of the
argument to proceed to more accurate test, and like the rush
of some mountain-torrent, ever bearing down headlong the
good readiness of the readers to desire ever to learn 'the
answer.
3 06/7/UOTe-
pois Qew-
pT)fj.a(rt.
Oppositions or objections, as from the heretics.
„ If there exist not, says he, in God the Father a word essen-
„ tial and conceived, other than the Only-Begotten Son That
40
Book I.
cap. i. 2.
Sameness of nature does
„ is of Him, Who is also called word in imitation of that one,
„ the result will be absurd, and we who deem we think rightly
„ must needs confess, that if the Word is Consubstantial with
„ the Father and the Father with the Word, there is nothing
„ jet to hinder the Father from being and being called word,
„ as Consubstantial with the Word/ 5
:> i
Ezek.
xviii. 20.
Refutation of this.
No argument, O most excellent, will ever constrain us to
think that we ought to believe and call the Father Word, or
even to believe that He could be so, because He is Consub-
stantial with the Word. For in no wise will things that are of
the same essence admit of a mutual interchange, and receive a
sort of mixture, as from one into the other, so that the things
named could be reduced from many into one, or from duality
into unity. For not because our forefather Adam was con-
substantial with the son born of him, will father therefore
advance unto son, son again mount up into father; but
being one with him as far as regards the unity of essential
quality, he will retain what is his own : and he who is of any
father will be conceived of as a son, and again the begetter of
any will clearly be father. But if ye imagine that ye are con-
structing a clever argument hereupon, and that consubstan-
tiality will surely constrain consubstantial to be one with
consubstantial, and will suffer no distinction to prevail, so that
each should exist by itself and in whatever it is, what was it
persuaded the Judge of all not to punish the father for the
son, nor to demand of the son satisfaction for the father ?
For the soul, says he, that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall
not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear
the iniquity of the son. But since the sentence of Him Who
judges righteously does not bring down the father, albeit
consubstantial with the son, into the position of sonship, nor
yet does it bring up the son into the condition of fatherhood,
but knoweth each individually, not this progressing into
that, nor that stepping into this ; it is I suppose evident, that
no argument will constrain God the Father, because He is
Consubstantial with the Word, to change into being the Word.
not destroy individuality.
41
For He abideth wholly in Himself, that is Father, even Chap.
though He Who is begotten of Him be conceived to be and CAP . i, 2.
be Word and therefore Son, that things Divine may not
appear in worse state than ours are.
Another in equal guise with the objection, by the method of
reductio ad absurdum.
The Son, as having no difference from His Father, but
being His most exact Likeness and the express Image of His Heb - *• 3 -
Perso?i, is found saying to His disciples, He that hath seen Me I nfra X1V -
hath seen the Father. But if He being thus, is Consubstan-
tial with the Father, and things consubstantial admit of utter
confusion with one another, there will be nothing it seems to
hinder the Son from being conceived of as Father, in that He
is Consubstantial with the Father, and capable of passing over
into this, nought hindering it, if consubstantiality suffice unto
this kind of change or transposition. Let the Son then be
conceived of as Father, and let Him say, as now being so, to
the real Father, From the womb before the Hay-star begat Ps - cx - 3.
I Thee ; and let Him assume to Himself every word in short
that belongs to the Father. When this at length has taken
place, every thing is now thrown into confusion, and That
Which ever so existeth, I mean the Holy and Consubstantial
Trinity will be reduced to Unity, if That which rightly and
separately belongs to Each vanishes on account of the Con-
substantiality, and the sameness of nature overthrows the
distinction of Persons. But this is absurd. Hence the
Father will not be the Word, because Consubstantial with the
Word, but will abide unchanged, being What He is, even
though He have Co-nature or Consubstantiality with His Own
Word. And their objection has been proved to be nought.
Another. If every word be the word of some one, pour-
ing it forth from the tongue, that is, or belching it forth and
bringing it up from the heart ; and the Father be Word,
because He is Consubstantial with the Word : He will be His
own word, or rather no one's, or will even have no existence
at all (for how will there be word, when he whose word it is,
is not ?). But this is absurd : for never will the Divine and
Untaint Nature be receptive of non-being, nor will the Father
42 Properties of the Father and the Son common,
ft m
15
Book I. everpass into the Word, even thoughHe be Consubstantial with
cap i 2 ♦
* the Word, but will remain Father, Whose Word also the Son is .
Another. If the Divine Nature be believed non-recipient
of all turn and change as regards Essence, how will the
Father, leaving His own position, pass into being the Word ?
For He will be recipient of change, suffering it as of ne-
cessity, and will not be the same, as not keeping what He
was from the beginning. But if this be absurd (for to change
is wholly foreign from the Divine Nature), the Father will
not have the change into the Word, but will be Father ever,
having immutability and unchange as God.
Another as of the same, at length.
The Only-Begotten Word and Son of God, shewing that He
Infra xvi. is Very God of Very God the Father says, All things that the
Father hath are Mine. But though the Son is Heir of all
the properties that are in the Father of Nature, as being of
Him by Nature, yet He will never have that of being Father
(for this too is one thing that belongs to the Father) ; but the
Son will remain bereft of nought that is inherent in the
Father, though He be not deemed of as Father, but having
in Himself perfectly all the properties and endowments of
the Father's Essence. Applying this very same method of
reasoning to the Person of the Father also, we say that He has
all the properties of the Son by Nature, yet not the power
of passing into sonship and into being Word, but that as un-
turning by Nature He remains what He is, that in addition
to being God the Father, He may be also without change,
having Unchanged in Himself the Word That appeared
from Him, the Son.
Another. God the Lawgiver found fault with certain by
the holy Prophets saying, They have put no difference be-
tween the holy and profane. For great indeed is the differ-
ence or contrariety of manners which is seen between them
by those who will discern. But if it be admissible to
commingle the nature of things consubstantial one with
another, and things that are in separate and individual per-
sons can run off to whatever they please of congenerate
or connatural ; — what is there to separate the profane from
Ezek.
xxii. 26
except only being Father and Son.
43
the holy, if the distinction of separate being or of who one Chap.
is, is never seen, but one exists in another because of same- CAP . j'. 2.
ness of essence ? Be then (the knowledge in regard to each
being hence indifferent), all jumbled up together, and let the
traitor Judas be Peter or Paul, because consubstantial
with Peter and Paul ; be Peter again or Paul, Judas, because
consubstantial with him. But so to think is most unrea-
soning ; and the being of the same substance will by no
means take away the difference of things congenerate or
connatural from one another. Our weakness then will
not so set itself to contend with the Divine Essence, as to
compel God the Father to be called and be the Word, because
He is Consubstantial with the Word. For He abides ever
Father, in no wise able to lose the distinction of what He
is in regard to this, nor yielding to sameness of Essence that
He should possess nothing distinctively. And He will no
way wrong the Son by this, but rather will shew Him as His
own, and possessing from Him by Nature the TJnturning
and Unchangeableness of Him That begat Him, both by His
possessing properly and alone Sonship and not being changed
into the Father, even as neither does He into Son.
Opposition, or another objection as on the part of the heretics.
„ Not reasonably, say they, do ye blame as not thinking
„ rightly those who say that the Word innate in God the
„ Father is other than the Son, although ye hear Him clearly
„ say in the Gospel narrative, I know Him and keep His word. Infra viii.
„ But if, as Himself affirmed, He keeps the Father's word, other '
„ in all respects, I suppose, and of necessity will he be than
„ him ; since needs must the distinction of being other exist
„ between him who keeps and that which is kept."
Different solutions in order shewing clearly that the Son is the
Word of God the Father.
If the Only-Begotten Son of God the Father is not Him-
self His Word, but some other than He, which thev call con- „ ,
ceived, exists in God, let those who put forth this contrary arrajos,
opinion tell us whether the word which is the conception of real^s-
their own ignorance be hypostatic 4 or no. For if they say j^nce*"
44 Between the Father and the Son nothing intervenes.
Book I. that it exists of itself conceived of as in separate being, they
' will surely confess that there are two sons : but if they say that
it has no existence, then, since nothing" any longer comes
between and severs the Son, how will He be third from
the Father and not rather next Him, as Son with Father ?
Another by the same considerations. The opponents
define that there is in God the Father a word, the conceived,
by means of which, according to their most unlovely imagi-
nation, the Son is taught the counsel of the Father. But
how great folly their dogma hereupon has, we must see.
"We must consider the argument about this matter thus.
The name father, has of necessity no mean in relation to
the son. For what will be the mean of father as regards
the son, or again of son as regards the father ? But if, ac-
cording to their unlearning, there severs the Son from the
Father an intervening will and a conceived word, which
they say is interpretative thereof, no longer will the Father
be conceived of as altogether father nor yet the Son as son,
if we conceive that the will of God and the word that inter-
prets it, exist in their own hypostases. But if we grant that
these are without hypostasis, then the Son is in God the
Father without any thing mediate and next to Him ; where
then will the conceived word retire, or what place will the
will have, conceived of as other than the Son ?
Another by the reductio ad absurdum. We believe that
the Holy and Adorable Trinity is Consubstantial, even if the
madness of the heretics will it not. But I think that there
ought to be admitted with regard to things consubstantial, a
likeness also with one another in all things, in regard to natural
properties. If then there be, according to the uncounsel of
some, in God the Father some conceived word other than the
Son, the Son too will surely have a conceived word in Himself,
Heb. i. 3. as being His Likeness and the unchangeable Express Image
of His Person, as it is written : the Holy Ghost will have one
equally with Him, according to the equal analogy of concep-
tions. The Trinity then has come to be in double, and the
Divine Nature is shewn to be compound. But this is absurd.
But in simple essences, there is nothing whatever save them-
The article limits to a strict sense.
45
selves. Nothing then will hinder the Holy and Consubstan-
tial Trinity from being closely connected, nought intervening.
Another at length. When Divine Scripture puts forth nouns
with the article prefixed, then it means some one thing which
alone is properly and truly that which it is said to be ; but
when it does not prefix the article, it makes a more general de-
claration of every thing that is so called, as for example (for our
discourse shall attain clear demonstration) many are called
gods, but when God is spoken of with the article it signifies
Him Who alone and properly is so ; more simply and without
the article, one perchance of those called hereto by grace.
And again there are many men. But when the Saviour
says with the article, The son of man, He signifies Himself
as one picked out of ten thousand. Since then names have
this character in Divine Scripture, how ought we to under-
stand, In the beginning was the Word ? For if every word
of God is hereby meant as being in the beginning, let them
shew it, and it is we who are the triflers. But if the Evan-
gelist prefixing the article, signifies One and that is so pro-
perly, crying, In the beginning was the Word, why strive they
in vain, bringing in another besides, only that they may
expel the Son from the Essence of the Father ? But
we ought, considering the absurdity herein, to refuse the
uncounsel of those who think otherwise.
Another, shewing that not after the conceived word, as they say, is
the Son formed, but He is the Likeness of the Father Himself.
If the Only-Begotten Son of God is and is called, accord-
ing to them, therefore Word, because, receiving the conceived
word of the Father, He is as it were formed thereafter, why
is He not found to say to His Disciples, I and the word of the
Father are one, He that hath seen Me hath seen the word of the
Father ? But since overstepping all things, He likens Himself
Alone to the Father Alone, none intermediate coming forward
to the Likeness, the Son will be conceived of as likening Him-
self to Him Who begat Him, and to none other than Him.
Opposition, as from the opponents.
„ We find, they say, the Son to be other than the con-
Chap.
IV.
cap. i. 2.
46
The Jews never heard
Book l. }) ceived word of God, giving heed not to our own thoughts
* „ thereon, but to considerations from the Divine Scrip-
„ ture. For what shall we say when we hear the Son say-
Infra xii. }) ing to the Father, Glorify Thy Son, the Father again
„ answering and saying, I have both glorifiedj, and will glorify
„ again? Shall we not altogether acknowledge that the Father
„ replies to the Son in a word ? How then is not he through
,, whom the Father answers the Son other than He ?"
4 +'
Jer. xxii.
10.
5 fiov\r]-
criv, will
or coun-
sel.
Infra xii.
30.
Different solutions to this in order.
Worthy of utter marvel, yea rather of mourning too, are
the unholy heretics, and moreover that one should say over
them that which is spoken in the Prophets : Weep ye not for
the dead, neither bemoan him, but weep sore for him that
thinketh and sayeth such things respecting the Only Begot-
ten. For what more wretched than such, if they fancied that
this was actually and truly the voice of the Father, which
not only the Saviour heard, but also this crowd of the Jews
which stood around, yea rather the choir of the holy disciples ?
For they should rather have imagined God-befitting ex-
cellencies, and not have attempted to submit things above us
to the laws that guide our affairs. For upon the bodily hear-
ing strikes a bodily voice, and noise which through the lips is
emitted into the air, or contrived by any other instrument.
But the Will of the Father, in ineffable voice gently and as it
were in the mind revolved, the Son Alone knoweth Who is
in Him by Nature as His Wisdom. But to suppose that
God uses a voice consisting in sound is wholly incredible, if
we would retain to the Nature That is above all things Its
superiority to the creation. Besides, our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself says that this was not the voice of God the Father,
and moreover shews that He needs no interpretation from
another to be able to learn the Father's will 5 saying, This voice
came not because of Me, but for your sokes. He should ra-
ther have said, my good friends, if ye are right in holding
such opinions regarding Him, Ye have heard with Me the
voice of the Father ; but now, turning His declaration right
round to the exact contrary, He avers that He had no need
the Father's Voice.
47
of the voice, but asserts that it came rather for their sakes, not
that it was uttered by the Father, but came and that for
their sakes. And if God the Father works all things through
Him, through Him altogether was this also, yea rather He was
Himself the voice, not to Himself interpreting the disposition
of the Father (for He knew it as Son), but to the hearing of
the by-standers, that they might believe.
Another. If they say that the Son needs some innate word,
that thereby He may be taught the Will of God the Father,
what will become of Paul who says, Christ the Power of God
and the Wisdom of God ? For how is the Son the Wisdom of
the Father, if lacking in wisdom He receive perfection from
another, through learning what forsooth He knows not ? or
how must one not needs say, that the wisdom which is in the
Father is not perfect ? and if the Son be the Wisdom of the
Father, how can His Will 6 be conceived of as other than He ?
We come then to say that the Will 6 of God the Father is not
perfected in wisdom. But great is the impiety of this, and
full of blasphemy the statement. Not therefore as partaker
of instruction from another does the Son know what be-
longs to His own Father, but as Himself the Word and
the Wisdom and the Will 6 , does He search all tilings,
yea, the deep things of God, as it is written concerning the
Spirit too.
Another. As the Likeness and the exact express Image
of the Father do the Divine Scriptures introduce to us the
Son : and the Saviour Himself saith, He that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father. But if with that likeness to Him, He knows
not of Himself what is in Him, but needs so to speak exposi-
tions from another in order to learn it, it is time to think that
the Father Himself is in the same case, if He is in the Like-
ness of the Son, and He will Himself too.need one to unfold
to Him what lies hid in His Offspring. And thus in addition
to the absurdities that result from hence, the Divine Nature
becomes also a recipient of ignorance. But since it is im-
pious thus to think, we must betake ourselves to more fitting
thoughts : for this clearly is what is profitable and helpful.
Another. The Spirit, says the blessed Paul, sea.rcheth
Chap.
IV.
cap. i. 2.
1 Cor. i.
24.
6 PoiKri-
(TIS
lb. ii. 10.
Infra xiv.
9.
1 Cor. ii.
10.
-$
1
48
jPAe Son knows Perfectly
Book I.
cap. i. 2
1 Cor. ii.
11.
all things, yea the deep things of God; and he adds, For what
man Jcnoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him ? even so the things of God Jcnoweth no man
but the Spirit of God That is in Him. Since then the Holy
Spirit Which accurately discerneth all things, is Spirit not
only of the Father, but of the Son too, how can He having
within Him by Nature the Spirit Which knoweth all things be
yet ignorant of ought that is in the Father? Superfluous
then in truth does it plainly appear to imagine that the
7 9i\i\ffiv Son learns of another the Will 7 of the Father ; and utterly
will vanish the need of a word to mediate in vain, according
to their ill-instructedness. For the Son knows all things
of Himself.
Another, by the method of reductio ad absurdum. They
who accuse the Essence of the Only -Begotten, saying that He
8 eixnixa knew not the Will 8 of the Father, but made use of in order to
learn, another teacher, the word invented by them, which they
call conceived, let them tell us, if they think that their own
opinion hereupon ought to prevail, whether they will say that
the conceived word is by nature equal to the Son (for let it be
supposed to have a separate existence of itself) or not equal,
but inferior perchance or even superior. If then they suppose
it inferior, they will commit impiety against the Father Himself
also : for there will be of a surety in Him what is worse than
He, and other than He, the conceived word. But if they do
not say worse, but shall allot to it a superiority to the Son,
the charge against the Son will operate two-fold against the
Father. For first of all He will be found to have begotten
what is in worse condition than Himself. Then moreover
He too will have the conceived word superior to Him, if the
Father is Consubstantial with the Son who according to them
has got an inferior position. But it is likely I suppose that
the opponents will start back from the blasphemy that re-
sults from either alternative : and will say that the conceived
word of the Father is equal to the Son as regards essence.
The question then is at an end. For how will the one teach
the other, as one who knows one who does not know, if both
are equal by nature ? The argument of these people being
His Father.
49
then on all sides weak, it will be superfluous to imagine that the Chap.
Son has any mean, and not rather to believe that He is in CAP . j' 2.
God the Father, Grod the Word Who was in the beginning. Supra U.
Another. The blessed Paul says that in the Son are hid Col. ii. 3,
the treasures of all wisdom and all knowledge. But if he is
true in saying such things, how yet shall we suppose that
He needed teaching from another, or in whom shall we any
more seek perfectness in knowledge, if He Who has it all is
made wise by another ? how is he Wisdom who is made
wise ? But since we must needs give heed not to their words,
but to those through the Spirit, and the Son hath, as Paul
saith, in Himself the treasures of wisdom and of all knowledge,
not from any one else will He know the things whereby
He is wisdom, but being in the Father He knows all that
is the Father's, as His Wisdom.
vol. 1.
CHAPTER V.
Mi
That the Son is by Nature Creator with the Father, as being of His
Essence, and not taken to Him as a minister.
3 All things were made by Him, and without Him was not
anything made.
The blessed Evangelist, having overthrown the intricate
objections of the unholy heretics, and having completed his
subtil and most exact utterance respecting the Only-Begot-
ten, comes to another snare of the devil compounded of
the ancient deceit, and putting forth to us the sting of the
polytheic error, which has wounded and cast down many, and
widening the way of perdition, and throwing open the
broad and spacious gate of death, heaped up souls of men in
herds unto hell and set rich food as it were before the devil
and brought before him choice meat. For since the children
of the Greeks applying themselves to the wisdom of the
world, and having plenteously in their mind the spirit of the
ruler of this world, were carried away unto polytheic error,
and perverted the beauty of the truth and, like to those who
walk in mist and darkness, went down to the pit of their own
ignorance, serving lifeless idols, and saying to a stock, Thou
art my father, and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth :
others again transgressing akin to them, devising nevertheless
Rom.i.25. a more polished error, deemed that they ought to worship the
creature more than the Creator, and lavished the glory that be-
fitted the Divine Nature Alone on the elements that were made
by It, of necessity does the Divine introduce to us the Only-
Begotten as Maker and Creator by Nature, saying that all
things were made by Him and that without Him nothing passed
into being, that he might close for the future the entrance
for their deceits, and might shew to them that know Him
Cf Prov
vii. 26.
Hab. i
16.
LXX.
Jer.ii.27.
God the Son external to all things.
51
not the Creator of all things, and by the very words wherein Chap. v.
he says that the creation was made, might clearly teach that
other than it is He Who called it into being, and by His In-
effable Power brought things that are from not being unto
birth. For thus at length was it possible by the beauty Wisdom
of the creatures proportionally to see the Maker, and to re-
cognize Him Who is in truth God, through Whom all things
have been already made, and made are preserved. Against
the false-worship then of the Greeks do I deem that he
thus well arrayed the Gospel word, and for this cause do we
believe that the Only-Begotten was introduced by the voice
of the saint as Maker and Creator.
But since it is meet to consider the crooked inventions of
the heretics, I think that we ought looking to their ways too
to say again a little.
All things, says he, were made by Him, and without Him was
not anything made.
This God-befitting dignity too does he put about the
Son, on all sides shewing that He is Consubstantial with
God Who begat Him and saying that all things that belong
to Him by Nature are in His Offspring : that He may be
conceived of as truly God of God, not (as we) having the ap-
pellation adventitious and accruing to us by grace alone,
according to the words, I have said, Ye are gods and all q/*Pa.lxxxii.
you are children of the most High. For if all things were
made by Him, He will be Other than they all. For in this,
All things, there is nothing which is not seen among all things.
As the blessed Paul too is found to have understood the all
things : for when in one of his Epistles he was discoursing of
our Saviour and said that all things were put in subjection Heb. ii. 8.
under His feet, excellently does he subjoin, For in that he saith
all, he left nothing that is not put under Him. Therefore since
we believe that all things were made by the Son, we will not
think that He is one of all, but will conclude that He is
external to all, and severing Him from the nature and kin of
things originate, will at length confess that He is none else
save God of God by Nature. For what will intervene between
e 2
52 The Father and Son co-work, not as separate.
Book I.
cap. i. 3.
Infra v.
17.
God and the creature ? I do not mean in regard of essence,
for much intervenes, but only in regard to the position of
anything that is, in conception. Or what other position will the
Son have, Who surpasses the nature of things made, yea rather
is Himself the Maker ? For all things were made by Him, as
by the Power, as by the Wisdom of God the Father, not
hidden in the Nature of Him Who begat Him, as in man is
for instance his innate wisdom and power, but existing se-
parately and by Himself, yet proceeding according to the
ineffable mode of Generation from the Father, that the Wis-
dom and Power of the Father may be conceived of as truly-
existing Son.
But though the blessed Evangelist says that all things were
made through Him, the saying will not I deem at all minister
damage to the words concerning Him. For not because it is
said that the things that are were made through Him, will the
Son be introduced as an underworker, or a minister of others'
wills, so that He should be no longer conceived of as being
by Nature Creator, nor will He be one given the power of
Creation by some other, but rather being Himself Alone the
Strength of God the Father, as Son, as Only-Begotten, He
works all things, the Father and the Holy Ghost co-working
and co -with Him : for all things are from the Father through
the Son in the Holy Ghost. And we conceive of the Father as
co-with the Son, not as though He were powerless to work
ought of things that are, but as being wholly in Him, by reason
of unchangeableness of Essence, and His entire kin and the
absence of any medium towards His Natural Procession from
Him. As though one were to say that to the sweet scent of a
flower, the flower itself was co-present for the operation
of the sweet scent, since it proceeds from it naturally.
But the force of the example is slight and the Nature That
is above all will overpass this too, receiving of it little- im-
presses of ideas. Since how shall we understand, My
Father worketh hitherto and I work ? For not separately
and by Himself does the Son say that God the Father
works ought regarding things that are, and that Himself
again likewise works apart from the Father, the Essence
The Persons of the Holy Trinity not severed One from Another. 53
10.
Whence He is after some sort resting : for so the Creator Chap. v.
would be two and not One, if Either work apart and sepa-
rately. Moreover the Father will be recipient of the power
of not having the Son ever in Him, and the Son likewise will
be seen to not have the Father ever in Him, if it were possible
that Either should work apart and separately with regard
to things that are, as we said before, and the Son will
not be true, when He says, I am in the Father and the Father Infra xiv.
in Me. For it is not, I suppose, merely after likeness of Es-
sence, that we see the Son in the Father as Express Image, or
again the Father in the Son as Archetype ; but we hold that
the Son beams forth by Generation from the Essence of the
Father, and is and subsists in It and of It in distinct Being,
God the Word : and that the Father again is in the Son, as
in Oonsubstantial Offspring, Connaturally, yet severally, ac-
cording to simply the difference of being, and being conceived
of as that which He is. For the Father remains that which
He is, even though He be Connaturally in the Son,
as we say that the Sun is in its brightness. And 'the Son
again will be conceived of, as not other than He is, even if
He be Connaturally in the Father, as in the sun its
brightness. For thus, the Father being conceived of and
being in truth Father, the Son again being and conceived
of as Son, the Holy Ghost having His place with them, the
number of the Holy Trinity mounts to One and the Same
Godhead.
For how will God be at all conceived of as One, if Each of
the Persons mentioned withdraw into a complete individu-
ality, and, while wholly removed from Connature and Essen-
tial participation with the Other, be called God ? Therefore let
us conceive of Father, Son and Spirit, according to the mode
of individual being, not mixing up the difference of the Persons
or names in regard to That Which Each IS : but while we
reserve severally to each the being and being called what He
IS, and thus believe, referring them still of Nature to One
Godhead, and refusing to hold a complete severance, because
the Son is called the Word and Wisdom and Brightness and
Express Image and Might of the Father. For He is Word and
o
54
Heretics take only ivhat seems on their side.
I- fc
Book I. Wisdom, "by reason of these being, immediately and without
cap. i. 3» • . . .
any intervention, of the mind and in the mind, and because of
the reciprocal interpassing into one another so to say of both.
For the mind is seen in word and wisdom, and word in its
turn in the mind, and there is nought that intervenes, or severs
the one from the other. He is called Power again, as being a
quality inherent without any interval in those who have it,
and that can nowise be severed from them in the manner of
an accident, apart from the destruction of the subject : Express
Image again, as being even connate, and unable to be severed
from the essence of which it is the express image.
Hence since Either is naturally and of necessity in Other,
when the Father works the Son will work, as being His Na-
tural and Essential and Hypostatic Power. Likewise when
the Son works, the Father too works, as the Source, of the
Creating Word, Naturally In-existent in His Own Offspring,
even as the fire too in the heat that proceeds from it.
It is clear then, that vainly has been iterated the accusa-
tion of the opponents against the Only-Begotten, who intro-
duce Him to us as creator by having learnt, yea rather as minis-
ter too ; because of the Blessed Evangelist saying, All things
weremade through Him andwithoutHim was not anything'made.
Much do I marvel at the unholy heretics : for whatever seems
any way to undo the Dignity of the Only-Begotten and to shew
Him second to Him Who begat Him, according to their own
view, this they hunt with much zeal, and from all sides
bring to it the drugs of their own stubbornness ; whatever
again are healthfully and rightly said and bring the Son up
to the Glory of the Father, these things they bury most
surely in deep silence, as having one sole aim, to in vain
revile Him Who is glorified of all the creation. For when
they hear that All things were made through Him, they hotly
bring on Him the name of service, dreaming that the Son is
bond instead of free, and worshipper rather than Lord.
But when they learn that without Him was not anything
made, they do not mount up to think ought great and mar-
vellous of Him. For since it is not in God the Father to create
otherwise than by His own Offspring, Which is His Wisdom
God the Son created man Equally with the Father. 55
and Power, the Evangelist says that nought at all was made ^" p AP j" J'
without Him. For therefore is the Only-Begotten the Glory
of God the Father (for He is glorified as Creator through the
Son) ; for He worketh all things and bringeth into being
things that are not.
And well will one conceive of the words, without Him was
not anything made, if he consider with himself what was said
at the creation of man. For Let us make man, says he, Gen. i. 26.
in Our image after Our likeness. For here specially one
can behold in the Son of a truth nought that is lowly,
as in a minister according to their phrase. For God the
Father does not command the Word, Make man, but as Co-
with Him by Nature and His inseparably so to say In- exist-
ing Co-worker, He made Him also Partaker of His Counsel
respecting man, not anticipating the knowledge that is in
the Son in regard to any conception, but as Mind in-
separably and apart from time manifested in the in-imaged
and in-existing Word.
Let God-befitting contemplations again be above the
reach of the example. Yet we say that He co-works
with the Son, not conceiving as of two severally, lest
there be conceived to be two gods, nor yet as though
both together were one, in order that neither the Son be
compressed into Father, nor again the Father into Son, but
rather in such sort as if one allowed to be co-existent in the
brightness from light the light whence it flashed forth : for
in such examples the generator seems to be separated in idea
from the generated and that which springs forth from it in-
divisibly ; yet are both one and the same by nature, and the one
in no wise separate from the other. But above this too will
God again be, inasmuch as He is both Super- substantial and
has nothing wholly like Him in things originate, that it should
be taken as a image of the Holy Trinity, without any differ-
ence, in exactness of doctrine. But if they deem that the
word, through Whom, said of the Son, can bring down His
Essence from Equality and Natural likeness to the Father, so
as to be minister rather than Creator, let those insane consider
and come forward and make answer, what we are to conceive of
«■
56
Through does not imply inferiority.
Book I. the Father Himself also, and Whom we are to suppose Him too
to be, seeing that He clearly receives the words through Whom
lCor. i.9. in the Divine Scripture : for God, says he, is faithful, through
Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son, and
Ep"'/ l -P au l an Apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God : and
Gal. iv. 7. again Paul writeth to some, Wherefore thou art no more a
servant but a son ; and if a son, then an heir through God a .
All these then have reference to the Person of God the
Father, and no one I suppose will rush to that extreme of
madness (except perchance he hold with the above mentioned),
as to say that the name and fact of service, is reasonably
predicated of the very glory of the Father, because the word
through Whom is applied to Him too. For the Divine
Scripture is sometimes indifferent in regard to its words,
in no wise wronging the subject thereby, but applying to the
things signified in a less proper sense both the words them-
selves and those whereby it deems that they are well ex-
Prov.xxv. pi ame d # B u t it is well to say of those, that The glory of the
LXX. Lord veileth speech. For little in truth is all might of words
unto the exact exposition of the Ineffable and God-befitting
glory. Wherefore one must not be offended at the meanness
of the things uttered, but must rather yield supremacy, and
might in tongue, and keenness of every mind, to the Divine
and unutterable Nature, for thus shall we be and not in small
degree pious.
a S. Cyril with the uncial MSS. of God through Christ.
ABC. has through God in the place of
CHAPTER VI.
That the Sen is by Nature Life and therefore not originate, but of
the Essence of God the Father.
4 a That which was made, in it urns Life.
Yet doth the Blessed Evangelist make to us his discourse
concerning God the Word, and he seemeth to me profitably
to go through all that pertains to Him by Nature, that he
may both put to shame the outrages of the heretics, and may
fortify those who would fain excel in right faith, with reason-
ings thereunto tending, not providing from words of worldly
wisdom unpersuasion, but in demonstration of the Spirit lCor.ii.4.
marvelling at the beauty of the truth.
What he would then teach through the words before us, is
this. He shewed us just now that the Son is by Nature Maker
and Creator, saying that all things were made by Him and
that without Him not so much as one thing was called into
being. But since on the creation He bestows not only to
be called into being, but also holds it together when made
through Himself, immingling in some way Himself with
those who have not by their own nature eternity of being,
and becoming life to those that are, that having become
they may abide, and that each may be preserved according
to its own limit of nature; — needs does he say, That which was
made, in it was life. Not only, says he, were all things made
by Him, but also whatever vms made, in it was the Life, that
is, the Only-Begotten Word of God, the Beginning and Sub-
sistence of all things both visible and invisible, heavenly and
earthly and infernal. For Himself being the by-Nature
Life, bestows manifoldly on things that are, being and life and Acts xvii.
motion, not in any way of partition and change passing into
each one of things that are by nature distinct : but their
a S. Cyril punctuates thus, with, many
of the Fathers and with the uncial MSS.
CDL.
58
Ood the Son in all as Life.
ii 3i
i Hi
-i f'
■1*
Book I. nature, viewed by itself, is variously fashioned by the in-
effable Power and Wisdom of the Creator, while One is the
Life of all passing into each, in such sort as befits it, and
it is able to partake thereof. But smce that which is
brought from not being into being must needs also decay,
and that which has beginning surely hasteth unto its
end (for to the Divine and All- superior Nature Alone
beseemeth the being preceded by no beginning and being
free from ending) : the Creator wisely deviseth for the weak-
ness that is in things made, and contriveth for them by His
skill an eternity. For the perpetual succession unto each
of its like, and the natural progression of things connatural
or kin unto one another looking ever towards onward course,
make the creation ever-visible and ever-co-enduring with
God its Maker. And this (contrivance) is that every one of
# things that are, soweth seed in itself after its kind and after
its likeness, according to the unspeakable sentence of its
Creator. In all then was the Life ; for this is our subject.
But, excellent sir, may one with reason say to the heretic
warring against the truth, what will you say to this too, when
you hear him who bears within him the Spirit say, that in
all things that were made was the Life, that is, the Word That
is in the beginning ? Will you dare to say now too, that the
Son is not of the Essence of God the Father, that He may
be deemed of as originate and created ? How then will one
not cry out against thine unlearning, thou, and that with
justice ? For if in things that were made was the Word, as
Life by Nature, immingling Himself by participation with
things that are, He is then Other than those wherein He
is believed to be. But He being by Nature Other than
what the creation is, how will He not be the God over all ?
But if you remain shameless, and cease not to imagine that
originate is the Son Who is in things made, as Life : — first
of all He will be conceived of as being somewhat in Himself,
then besides. He will Himself be partaker of Himself b , and
b S. Cyril means to say that first, He of Him as their source of Life, He must
would have His own actual Being : and needs partake of Himself as source of
that over and above this, if He were ori- Life to Himself,
ginate, since all things originate partake
The Son quickens as God.
59
Life, if being in things made, He be conceived to be Himself c "ap.
too one of them. But the fighter against God sees surely cap. i. 4.
himself too, how great the absurdity of thinking thus. There-
fore if the Word Who quickens them is by participation in
things originate, He will not be Himself too among the par-
ticipators, but other than they. And if so, not originate, but
in them as by Nature Life.
This again we shall see by the subjoined considerations.
Thoughts or arguments.
If the Son be not of the Essence of God the Father, but from
without He have subordinated Him according to them, He is
originate and made. How then does He quicken all things,
Who is among things made ? Or what distinction shall we
find any longer in the Divine Nature ? or how does the most
wise Paul say, as something admirable of Him That is by
Nature God, Who quickeneth all things ? For if the Son being 1 Tim. vi.
originate, quickeneth all things, the creation quickeneth itself, '
in no wise needing thereto God its Maker. There is then no-
thing in God more than in the creation ; For it inworketh not
less than God can do. But this is absurd. Not originate then
is the Son, but God and therefore by Nature Life also.
Another. The Psalmist marvelleth exceedingly and that
with reason at the Divine Nature, and in particular attri-
buteth to It a most fair dignity saying, For with Thee is the Ps.xxxvi.
Fountain of life. But if the Father have set the Son below '
Him, and have Him not of His own Nature, and He even being
so, quickens things originate and is by Nature Life as quicken-
ing, why vainly strives the Psalmist saying that the fountain of
life is with God Alone ? For the nature of things originate
also is recipient of this, if the Son, albeit not of the Divine
Essence according to the uncounsel of some, quickens. But
this is absurd. Therefore Life by Nature is the Son, as God
of God, and Life of Life.
Another. If the Son being by Nature Life be originate
and created, as not having His Being of the Essence of God
the Father, according to their fantasy, the nature of things
originate will be recipient of being and being called life, and
60
God the Son God, because
Book. I,
cap. i. 4,
•m.
m
m
M
m
I
all things will be life in potential, even if they have
not yet the exercise of the thing itself. For that which
has the natural power of being ought, will surely be so
I ween, even if it be not so as yet ; for it has the
power inherent in its nature. When then the being life
is common to the creature, the special and alone prerogative
Infra xiv. f nonej ^fay vainly does the Son vaunt of Himself, I am the
Life ? for He should, I suppose, have rather said, I am along
with you the life. This would I suppose have been truer,
if being indeed originate He is Life too. But since He
puts about Himself Alone as His special good the being
Life, it is at length clear that He classes Himself, not with
things originate, but with the Divine Essence of the Father,
whereto the being Life also pertains.
Another. That which is participate of life is not in its own
right life, for it is clearly in it as other than itself. If then
the Son is by participation in things originate as Life, He
will be other than the things that are participate of Him and
lack life. Therefore not originate is He, nor seeking to be
quickened by another. He is therefore God as quickening ;
but if so, He will be confessedly of the Essence of the Father,
if we worship One God, and serve none other than Him
Who is.
Another. Accurately testing the nature of things that
are, we see God and the creation and nought else besides.
For whatever falleth short of being God by Nature, that is
surely originate; and whatever escapeth the catalogue of
creation, will surely be within the limits of Deity. Since
then we have well established this, let them tell us who
thrust forth the Son from the Essence of God the Father,
how He can quicken as Life, seeing that the Divine Nature
has this as its own property, and yields it to none else.
But if being originate He can be Life also, the grace of the
excellence will surely overtake all things that are originate,
and all will be by nature life. What need will they have
therefore of participation of the Son, or what more will they
gain hence ? for they too possess the being by nature life.
But this is not true, but they partake of necessity as need-
He gives Life.
61
ing life, of the Son. Alone then is the Only-Begotten by Chap.
Nature Life, and therefore will He not be reckoned among C ap. il 4.
things originate, but will mount up unto the Nature of Him
Who begat Him : for Life by Nature is the Father too.
Another. The Son being by Nature Life, is either Other
than the creation, I mean by nature, or con -natural with it.
If then He be connatural and consubstantial, how will He
not lie in saying, I am the Bread of Life Which cometh down Infra vi.
from Heaven and giveth life unto the world ? for the creation '
hath from its own the being life, but life is imparticipate of
life, that it may shew itself life. But if He is not con-
natural, He will also escape being originate, withdrawing
from the creation together with Himself His own proper
good also. For the creation will not be by nature Life,
but rather lacking and participate of life.
Another. If the Son being by Nature Life is connatural
with things made, by reason of not being of the Essence of
Glod the Father, according to their speech, wherefore does
the blessed Psalmist say that the heavens shall perish, and Ps.cii.26,
shall wax old like a garment : but to Him did he attribute
His own proper prerogative, crying aloud, But Thou art the lb. 27.
Same and, Thy years shall have no end ? For either He
will perish and fail along with us, as connatural, and will no
longer be conceived of as Life, or our natural connection
with Him will draw up us too to be ever the same and to
unfailing number of years. But verily He shall be ever the
same, and we shall fail : He is therefore not originate as we ;
but since He is of the Life by Nature He will also quicken
as Life the things that lack life.
Another. If nought is participate of itself, but the creation
partakes of the Son as Life ; He is not the creation, nor yet
is the creation Life, which the Son is.
Another. If to quicken is one thing, to be quickened
another, as action and passion, and the Son quickens, the
creation is quickened : therefore not the same is Son and
creation, since neither is the in worker with the inwrought.
CHAPTER VII.
:&
That the Son is by Nature Light and therefore not originate, but of
the Essence of God the Father, as Very Light from Very Light.
And the Life was the light of men.
In these words too does the blessed Evangelist shew us
that the Son is by Nature God and Essentially Heir of the
good things of Him Who begat Him. For having taught
before that being by Nature Life, He was in all things that
were made by Him, holding them together and quickening
them and granting them of His unutterable Power to pass
from not being into being, and preserving them when made,
he advances to another train of ideas, from all sides minded
to lead us by the hand unto the apprehension of the truth,
as was right. Therefore in things made was the Word, as Life.
But since the rational living creature among them on earth
recipient both of mind and knowledge and participant of the
wisdom that is from God, is man, needs does the Spirit-
bearer shew us clearly the Word as Bestower of the wisdom
that is in man, that God the Father may be conceived of
being all things in all through the Son ; — life in them that
lack life, light again and life in them that lack life and
light. And therefore he says, And the Life was the light
of men, that is, God the Word Who quickeneth all things, the
Life in all that are, both enlighteneth the rational creature,
and lavisheth understanding upon those who are recipient of
understanding : that so that may be kept and have full force
l Cor. iv. that is said to the creature, for what hast thou that thou didst
4 ' not receive ? For nought of wealth from itself hath the ori-
ginate and created nature, but whatever it is seen to
possess, this is surely of God, Who bestoweth both being, and
God the Son, Who giveth Light, God.
63
Cf. S. Luke
xxi. 15.
how one ought to be. And well was the was put of the life, that c«-ap.
it might signify in every way the eternal Being of the Word, CAP . i/4,
and might cut off the triflings of those void of understanding,
who introduce to us the Son, of the things that are not, which
manifestly warreth against the whole of Divine Scripture.
In regard then of the Eternity of the Word with the Fa-
ther ; — having already sufficiently gone through it both in the
present Book, and in that called the Thesaurus, we deem
that we may be silent. But what the mind of the words
before us introduces, this with all readiness examining to
the extent of our power, we will be diligent to profit both
ourselves and those who shall hereafter read it, God again
opening to us both doors and a mouth to our words.
What then will the fighter against Christ say to us, when he
learns that the Life, that is, the ever-living God the Word, is
the Light of men ? What arguments will he sling at us,
when we come forward and say, If the Son be not by
Nature God, and Fruit of the Essence That begat Him, if
He have not beamed forth to us Yery Light from Very
Light, but Himself too being from without is subordinated
according to your unlearning : He is connatural with things
made, and will in no wise escape being originate. How
then, O ye filled full of all folly, doth He illuminate, they
receive illumination from Him ? For is not that which illumi-
nates one thing, that which is illuminated another ? but this
is plain and clear to every one. For if we grant that they
are the same, as regards kind of essence and the mode of
existence, what is there more in that which has power
of illumining, what again less in that which lacketh light ?
For whatsoever cometh, will come to both of them, and
apart to each, and that which is in need of light will be
light, and the light will not differ from the illumined. But
great is the confusion of ideas manifest herein, and necessity
of reason severs each of the things named and puts in its
own proper nature the supplier herein apart from the sup-
plied. Not therefore connatural with things made is the
Son, but He will abide in the Essence of the Father, being
Very Light of Very Light.
64
God the Son God because
Book I. And it were nothing hard, by transferring the method
of reasoning in the foregoing, which we made con-
cerning the Son being by Nature Life, and demonstrated
that He is Other than the things wherein He is, to give
clear proof in this chapter too. — But in order not to leave
the labour of this to others, nor to appear overmastered by
sloth, I myself will endeavour, so far as I can, to transfer
the form of argument used in the foregoing reasonings. For
as in those, He being Life by Nature, is shewn to be Other
than those wherein He is, so here too, said to be and in
verity being the Light of men, He will be found to be Other
than things that lack light and partake thereof; as we shall
see more clearly in the following.
Proofs by demonstrations, that the Son who illumineth is Other
than the creation that is illumined.
If the Word was in the things spoken of, as Light by Na-
ture, immingling Himself by means of participation in things
that are, He is then Other than the things wherein He is
believed to be. But He That is by Nature Other than what
the creation participant of Him and by Him illumined is,
how will He not needs be the God Who is over all ?
Another. If the fighter against God says that the Son
being by Nature Light is in things originate as originate,
illumining things that lack light : — first of all He will be
conceived of as being in Himself, then besides, He will Him-
self be partaker of Himself and Light, if being in things
originate, He one and the same be conceived to be of
Ps.xc.12. them. But he that has applied his heart unto wisdom, as it
is written, sees surely how great the absurdity of thinking
thus. Therefore if the Word Who illuminateth them is by
participation in things Originate, He will not Himself be
among the participants and illumined, but Other therefore
than they. And if so, He is then not originate, but as
Light by Nature and God in things that lack Light.
Another. If the Son be not of the Essence of God the
Father, but being from without He have subordinated Him
according to them, He is then originate and created : how
I?
I
He giveth Light.
65
then is He in things made, enlightening them ? or what C yij'
special shall we find any longer in the Divine Essence ? or cap. i. 4.
how does the most wise Psalmist say as something marvellous
of Him Who is by Nature God, In Thy Light shall we see light ? Ps - xxxvi.
For if the Son being originate illumines all things, the crea-
tion will illumine itself, having no wise need thereto of God
its Maker. There is then nothing more in God than in the
creature, and it inworks no less than God could do. But
this is absurd. The Son then is not originate, but God
rather, and therefore Light by Nature, as is the Father.
Another of the same. If the Son being the Light of God
the Father (as is said, In Thy Light shall we see Light and, lb.
send out Thy Light and Thy Truth], is originate and Ib.xliii.3.
brought into being, there is no longer ought to hinder,
by equal analogy, all things originate from being called
the Light of God the Father. For if the nature of things
created at all admits this, it will be in potential common
to them all, and not the own property of the One Son. But
this is absurd : for to the Son Alone will it pertain to be
called and to be the Light of God the Father. Not there-
fore originate is He, but Light, as God from God Who illu-
mineth through Him things lacking light.
Another. If the Son being by Nature Light is not of the
Essence of the Father, but being from without is subordi-
nated, according to the uninstructed speech of the fighters
against God, it follows that He is connatural and kin to
things created, as having forsooth fallen away from the
Divine Essence. How then is He called and is Light, but
of the holy Baptist it is said, He was not the Light, albeit Infra ver.
the blessed Baptist is light in potential, and not he alone, if
it be once granted that the Son being originate, can be by
Nature Light ? For that which has once had place in the
nature, is I suppose common to each that partakes of such
nature, according to the law of consequence. But John was
not Light, the Son Light. Other therefore by Nature is He
and not connatural with things made.
Another of the same. If the Son being by Nature Light is
originate and created, as not possessing forsooth the being
VOL. i. f
God the Son Ood,
Book I.
cap. i. 4,
IrRf
of the Essence of God the Father, as some surmise, the
nature of things originate will admit of being and being
called light ; it will be altogether light according to the law
of potential. For that which has in its nature to be anything,
will I suppose surely be so, even if it have not yet been.
Since then the being light is common to the nature of things
originate, and the property in aloneness of none, why in vain
does the Son vaunt of Himself, saying, I am the Light ? for
He ought I suppose to say, I am with you the Light. But
since He puts it about Himself Alone as His own proper
goody joining to Himself no one else, He clearly classes Him-
self, not with things originate, but with the Divine Essence
of God the Father, whereto belongs the being by Nature
Light. .
Another. That which is participate of light is not in its
own right the Light ; for it is clearly one thing in another.
If then the Son be by participation in things originate, as
Light ; He will be other than those that partake of Him and
lack Light. Therefore not originate is He, nor seeking, as
things originate, to be illumined by another : it remains
therefore that He is God and able to illuminate. If so, He
will be conceived of also as sprung of the Essence of the
Father, if we worship One God, and serve none other than
the True God.
Another. Accurately testing the nature of things that
are, we behold God and the creature, and nought else
besides. For whatever faileth of being by Nature God, is
wholly originate, and whatever escapeth the category of being
made, is wholly and entirely within the limits of Divinity.
Since then we have established this, let them tell us who
thrust forth the Son from being of the Essence of God
the Father, how He can illumine as Light, seeing the
Divine Nature retaineth this as Its own, and yields it to
none else. But if the Son being originate, can be also Light,
the grace of this excellence will surely overtake all things
originate, and all will be by nature light. What further need
then have they of participation with the Son, or what more
will they gain hence, having themselves too the being by
Who giveth Light.
67
nature light, even as the Son hath it in them ? But the Chap.
-f • • • VII
creature does need the Illuminator, not having this of its own. CAP , 1/5.
God then by Nature is the Son, and therefore Light, as able
to illumine things that lack Light.
Another. The Son being by Nature Light, is either
Other than the creature, in regard that is of the mode of
being, or connatural with it. If then He be cognate and
consubstantial, vainly, as it seems, did He come to us say-
ing, i" am come a Light into the world ; for the creation has Infra xii.
of its own itself also the being light : but light is impartici-
pate of light, that it may be understood to be light. But if
He be not connatural, but the creature lack light to whom
belongs, What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? needs 1 Cor. iv.
will the Son escape being originate, withdrawing from the
creation together with Himself His own proper good. For
the creature will not be by nature light, but rather lacking
and participate of light.
Another. If nought be participate of itself and the crea-
ture partake of the Son as Light : He is not a creature,
nor yet the creature Light, which the Son is.
Another. If to illumine be one thing, to be illumined
another, as action and passion, and the Son illumines, the
creature is illumined; therefore not the same is Son and crea-
ture, since neither is the in worker with the inwrought.
5 And the Light shineth in darkness, and the darkness compre-
hended it not.
Needs does the most wise Evangelist hasten to expand
to us by this too that is now before us the thought expressed
above. For he did not think, I suppose, that it would suffice
to the hearers unto being able to think unerringly of God
the Word, that He is verily the Light of men, by only saying,
And the Life ivas the Light of men. For it was like I sup-
pose that some would arise who should hear the things uttered
without weighing them, and should moreover set forth or
try to teach others also that the Word of God is indeed verily
Light, but not Giver of light to all, but in whomsoever He will
He infuses the light of understanding, approving him who
f 2
68
Tlie creature darkness,
Book I. ought to receive it and is worthy of so bright a gift : and that the
nature of the rest of the rational creation either gets the power of
understanding from its natural seed, or God the Father ingrafts
into it mind and understanding, as though the Son were unable
to do this. In order then that God the Word, Who was in God
the Father, may be clearly shewn to be both Life and Light,
not of some individually, of others not, but by some ineffable
mode of participation, as wisdom and understanding (which
is what is called light in things rational), immingling Him-
self in all things that are, that the things rational may become
rational, and things recipient of sense may have sense, which
in no other way they could have had : — needs does he say,
And the Light shineth in darkness and the darkness compre-
hended it not.
As though he with all exactitude crieth aloud to his hearers
after this sort : I said, sirs, teaching the truth with all my
power, that the Life was the Light of men, not that any
should suppose from these words that they who shew
themselves righteous and good receive from another, as the
reward of their conduct, the illumination from Him, but that
ye might learn, that as the Word is Life in all things that have
been made, quickening things recipient of life ; so He is in
them Light also, rendering things recipient of understanding
and sense, what they are. For God the Father through the
Son in the Spirit is all things in all.
Darkness he calls the nature that lacks illumination, i. e.
the whole originate nature. For since he calls Him the Light,
to shew that the rational creation which lacks and is impar-
ticipate thereof is other than It, he turns the force of the
epithet used to the very contrary, doing this also, after my
judgment, not without an aim, but considering in himself
this above all, that the nature of things originate, producing
nothing whatever from its own self, but receiving its whole
being and well-being such as it is from its Creator, has
l Cor. iv. rightly said to it, What hast thou that thou didst not receive ?
And since along with the rest, it has light itself also God-
given, not possessing it does it receive it : but that which has
not of itself light, how will it not be the contrary, or how
f
the Son Light.
69
will it not be called darkness ? For that the Light shineth in
darkness is a credible demonstration (yea rather one follow-
ing from very necessity), that the creation is darkness, the
Word of God Light. For if the nature of things originate
receive the Word of God by participation, as Light, or as of
Light 1 : it receives it then as itself darkness, and the Son shineth
in it, as the light doth in darkness, even though the darkness
know not a whit the Light. For this, I suppose, is the
meaning of The darkness comprehended it not. For the
Word of God shineth upon all things that are receptive of
His Irradiance, and illumineth without exception things
that have a nature receptive of illumining. But He is un-
known of the darkness. For that which is the rational
nature upon earth, I mean man, served the creature more than
the Creator : it comprehended not the Light, for it knew not
the Creator, the Fountain of wisdom, the beginning of under-
standing, the root of sense. Things originate possess never-
theless, of His love to man, the light, and are provided with
the power of perception implanted concurrently with their
passing into being.
But we must again note here, that no argument will per-
mit to suppose that the Son of God is originate or created,
but in every way does He surpass our measure, and rise above
the nature of the creature, and is wholly Other than they are
and far removed as regards quality of essence, even as
the light is not the same as darkness, but soothly contrary and
parted by incomparable diversity into physical alieniety.
Having now sufficiently gone through the method of rea-
soning hereupon in the foregoing, we will go on to what
follows.
Chap.
VII.
CAP.i.6, 7.
1 &>s <pus
fy us e'jc
(pairds
Rom. i.
25.
6 7 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The
same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light.
Having before Explained about God the Word, and most
accurately gone through the things whereby He is shewn to
be by Nature Son of God the Father, he fortifies their
faith in what they had already heard by his words. And
since (according to what was said by God through Moses), At Deut.xix.
70
The Evangelist and Baptist
Book I.
cAP.i.6, 7.
■i
■ if:
Supra 1,2.
lb. 3.
lb. 4.
Isa. xl. 3,
1 Cor.viii,
6.
lb. 5.
Infra Tiii
13.
the mouth of two and three witnesses shall every word be
established, wisely does he bring in addition to himself
the blessed Baptist, and introduces him along with him-
self a most noteworthy witness. For he did not suppose
that he ought, even if of gravest weight, to demand of the
readers in his book concerning our Saviour credence above
that of the law, and that they should believe him by himself
when declaring things above our understanding and sense.
Therefore the blessed Evangelist himself testifies that
The Word was in the beginning and the Word was God and
was in the beginning with God and that all things were
made by Him, and He was in the things made as Life,
and that the Life tvas the Light of men, that by all these
he might shew that the Son is by Nature God. And the
Divine Baptist too testifies in addition to him, crying aloud,
Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the paths
of our God. For soothly one will say that He is Very God, in
Whom is by Nature inherent the dignity of lordship and it
accrues not to any other rightly and truly, since to us there
is one God the Father, and one Lord Jesus Christ, as Paul
saithj and though there be many called gods by grace and
lords both in heaven and earth, yet the Son is One with
the Father Yery God.
Therefore, most noteworthy is the pair of holy witnesses,
and credence no longer capable of blame is due to the things
said, both as having received the fulness of the law, and sup-
ported by the notability of the persons. For the blessed
Evangelist then to say ought concerning himself, and to
take hold of his own praises, were in truth burdensome
and moreover ill-instructed. For he would rightly have
heard, Thou bearest record of thyself, thy record is not true.
Therefore he commits to those who know him to form their
opinion of him, and goes to his namesake, doing well in this
too, and says that he was sent by God. For it behoved him
to shew that not of his own accord nor with self-invited zeal
does the holy Baptist come to his testimony respecting our
Saviour, but yielding to the commands from above, and
ministering to the Divine Will of the Father. Wherefore he
two witnesses.
71
says, There was a man sent from God, whose name was Chap.
John - caL.6,7.
But we must notice how unerringly and fitly he expressed
himself as to each, and correspondently to the nature of the
things indicated. For in the case of God the Word, ivas
is fitly introduced indicating every way His Eternity, and His
being more ancient than all beginning that is in time, and
removing the idea of His having been created. For that
which always is, how can it be conceived of as originate ?
But of the blessed Baptist, befittingly does he say, There
was a man sent from God, as of a man having an originate
nature. And very unerringly does the Evangelist herein
seem to me not merely to say that There was, but by adding
the word a man, to overthrow the most unadvised surmise
of some.
For already was there a report bruited of many, commonly
saying that the holy Baptist was not really a man by nature
but one of the holy angels in heaven, making use of human
body and sent by God to preach. And the plea for this
surmise they found in its being said by God, Behold I send, s. Matth.
My messenger before Thy Face, which shall prepare Thy way Mai. iii.
before Thee. But they err from the truth who imagine thus, '
not considering that the name of Angel is indicative of
ministry rather than of essence, even as in the history of the
blessed Job messengers a one after the other run to announce Job i.
his manifold sufferings and ministering to those incurable
afflictions. Something like this does the most wise Paul
himself define respecting the holy angels, writing thus : Are Heb. i.
they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them
who shall be heirs of salvation ?
John the blessed Baptist then is called an angel by the
mouth of the Lord, not as being actually by nature an angel,
but as sent to announce and crying aloud, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord. Very profitably does he declare moreover that
the angel * was sent by God, shewing that his witness is most ! rbv
sure. For he that was sent by God to preach, would not a njel °r
a &yy fKoi. The Greek word " angel "
signifying literally a messenger and used
in classic Greek in that meaning.
messen-
ger.
72 8. John Baptist accredited, as sent.
Book I. utter anything in his teaching that was not wholly according
"to the will of Him Who put the mission on him. True there-
fore is the witness as being God-taught. For the most wise
Gal. i. l. p au l a l S o telling us that he was sent by Jesus Christ, affirmed
that he learned the power of the mystery not of any other,
lb. 12. "j^t ]jy revelation of Him Who sent him, signifying the re-
* ffwnn- velation in sum so to say and briefly 2 , in saying that he was
Kollsia" sent by Jesus Christ. Hence the being God-taught wholly
a-rarws f u ows on being sent by God. And that freedom from lying
is wholly the aim of the ministers of the truth is undoubted.
The man's name he says was John. It needed that he who
was sent should be recognized by the mark of the name, which
introduces, as I suppose, great authenticity to what is said.
S- Luke J? 0r an angel (namely Gabriel that stand in the presence of God,
as himself says) when he declared toZacharias the good tidings
of his birth of Elizabeth, added this to what he said, namely
lb. 13. that his name shall be John. It is I suppose clear and con-
fessed by all that he was so named of the angel according to
the Divine purpose and appointment. How then will not he
who was crowned by God with so great honour be conceived
of as above all praise ? Wherefore the mention of his name
is profitably and necessarily brought in.
But since the Evangelist has added that the holy Baptist
was sent by God/or a witness that all men through him might
believe, we will further say when our opponents fall foul and
say, „Why did not all believe the God -sent ? how came
„ he who was fore -appointed by the decree from above to be
„ powerless to persuade any?" — It is meet, sirs, that we
should not blame John for want of zeal herein, but should
exclaim against the obstinacy of those who disbelieved. For
so far as pertains to the aim of the herald, and the mode of his
apostolate from above, none would have been found impartici-
pate in the teaching, nor would have remained in unbelief :
but since there was diversity of disposition in the hearers and
each has power over his own free-choice, some receiving not
the faith missed what was profitable. Wherefore we must
Ezek. iii. say to them (as it is in the prophet), He that heareth, let him
hear ; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear.
God the Son Light, the Baptist a lamp. 73
This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light.
The word This is full of declaration of virtue and praise of
person. For he that was sent, he says, from God, he that
with reason struck with astonishment the whole of Judaea,
by the gravity of his life and its marvellous exercise in virtue 3 ,
he that is fore-announced by the voice of the holy Prophets :
called by Isaiah, The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,
and by the blessed David, a lamp fore-ordained for Christ h ;
This man came for a witness to bear witness of the Light.
He here calls God the Word Light, and shews that He is
One and strictly 4 the very actual Light, with Whom there is
by nature nought else that has the property of illumining, and
that is not lacking light. Therefore foreign and, so to say^
of other nature than the creature is the Word of God, since
verily and truly is He strictly Light, the creature par-
ticipate of light. He then that is unclassed with things
made, and conceived of therefore as being of other nature
than they, how will He be originate, rather how will He not
be within the limits of Deity and replete with the Good
Nature of Him who begat Him ?
8 He was not the Light, but was sent to bear witness of the Light.
The Baptist having esteemed desert-abodes above the haunts
of the cities, and having shewn forth an unwonted persistence
in exercise of virtue, and having mounted to the very sum-
mit of the righteousness attainable by man, was most rightly
wondered at, and even by some imagined to be Christ Him-
self. And indeed the rulers of the Jews led by his achieve-
ments in virtue to some such notion, send some to him bid-
ding them to inquire if he be the Christ. The blessed
Evangelist then not ignorant of the things that were by many
bruited of him, of necessity puts, He was not the Light, that
he might both uproot the error as to this, and again build
up some weight of credence to him who was sent from God
for a witness. For how is he not eminent exceedingly, how
is he not every way worthy of marvel, who is so clad with
great virtue and so illustrious in righteousness as to imitate
•» " Mine Anointed," E. V. " My Christ," LXX.
Chap.
VII.
cap. i. 8.
3 Ka\ ra7s
eis &<TK-J]-
ffiv v-rrtp-
jSoAcus
Isa. xl. 3.
Ps.cxxxii.
17.
Kvptais
74
The Saints have light, not from themselves.
Book I.
cap. i. 8,
S. Matt,
v. 14.
Ps.cxxxii,
17.
Infra v.
35.
Phil. ii.
15, 16.
Infra xiv,
6.
Christ Himself, and by the choice beauty of his piety, to be
even imagined to be the Light Itself ?
He was not then, says he, the Light, but sent to bear wit-
ness of the Light. In saying the Light, with the addition of
the article, he shews that it is really one : for so it is in truth.
For that both the blessed Baptist and each of the other saints,
may be rightly called light we will not deny, seeing that it
is said of them by our Saviour, Ye are the light of the world.
And again it is said of the holy Baptist, I have ordained a
lamp for My Christ, and, He was a burning and a shining light,
and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light. But
even though the saints be light, and the Baptist a lamp, we
are not ignorant of the grace that was given them and of
their supply from the Light. For neither is the light in the
lamp its own, nor the illumination in the saints, but they are
rendered bright and lightsome by the enlightening of the
Truth and are lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.
And what is the Life, whose word they holding forth are
called light, save surely the Only-Begotten, Who saith, I am
the Life ? Therefore, One of a truth is That Which is verily
Light, lighting, not enlightened : and by participation of the
One, whatever is called light, will be so deemed of by imita-
tion of It.
CHAPTER VIII.
That the Son of God alone is Very Light, the creature not at all,
being participate of Light, as originate.
9 That was the true Light.
The Divine Evangelist again profitably recapitulates what
has been said, and clearly marks off That Which is in truth
the Light, the Only-Begotten, from those that are not so,
namely things originate : he severs clearly That Which is
by nature from them which are by grace, That Which is par-
taken of from those which are participate of it, That Which
ministereth Itself to those who lack from those who are in
enjoyment of Its largess. And if the Son is Very Light,
nought save He is in truth Light, nor hath of its own in poten-
tial the being called and being Light, nor yet will things
originate produce this as fruit of their own nature; but just as
from not being they are, so from not being Light will they
mount up to being light, and by receiving the beams of the
Very Light, and irradiated by the participation of the Divine 2 S. Pet.
Nature, will they in imitation of It alike be called and be
light.
And the Word of God is Essentially Light, not being so
of grace by participation, nor having th,is dignity as an ac-
cident in Himself, nor yet imported, as grace, but the un-
changeable and immutable good of the Uncreated Nature,
passing through from the Father into the Heir of His
Essence. But the creature, not so will it bear about it the
being light, but as not having it receives, as darkness it is illu-
mined, it has, as an accruing grace, the dignity from the love
to man of Him Who giveth it. Hence the One is Very Light,
the other not at all. So great therefore beiriP- thp cK#n-^^~~
76
God the Son God,
Book I. between, and so great a notion severing off, the Son of God
from the creature in respect to sameness of nature, how must
one not and with reason deem that they are foolish, yea rather
outside of all good understanding, who say that He is origi-
nate, and rank with things made the Creator of all, not
seeing, as seems to me, how great impiety their daring will
l Tim. i. risk, not knowing either what they say nor whereof they
affirm.
For that to those who are used to test more accurately the
truth in the words before us, the Only-Begotten, that is, the
True Light, will be shewn to be in no way originate or made,
or in any thing at all con-natural with the creature, one may
on all sides see and that very easily, and not least through
the thoughts that are in order subjoined, collected for the
consideration of what is before us.
Thoughts or syllogisms whereby one may learn that the Son Alone
is Very Light, the creature not at all ; hence neither is He con-
natural therewith.
If the Son being the Brightness of the glory of God the
Father, is therefore Yery Light, He will not be connatural
with the creature, that the creature too be not conceived of
as the brightness of the glory of God the Father, having in
potential the being by nature this which the Son is.
Another. If the whole creation have the power of being
Very Light, why is this attributed to the Son Alone ? For
one ought I suppose by reason of equality to give to things
made also the title of being the Yery Light. But no one of
things originate will this befit, but it will be predicated of the
Alone Essence of the Son. Of right therefore and truly will
it rest on Him, on created things not at all. How then will
He be connatural with the creation, and not rather belong to
what is above the creation, as being above it with the
Father ?
Another. If that which is not in truth light be not the same
as the in truth Light (for the enunciation of either has some-
what of diversity), and the Son be called Very Light, and be so
of a truth: the creature will therefore not be Yery Light.
Who giveth light.
77
Hence neither are things thus severed from one another ^||['
connatural. cap. i. 9.
Another. If not only the Only-Begotten be the Yery Light,
but the creature too possesseth the being very light, where-
fore does He light every man that cometh into the worldl For
since the originate nature too possesseth this of its own,
the being lightened by the Son were superfluous. Yet
verily doth He light, all we are partakers of Him. Not
therefore the same in regard to quality of essence, are the
Son and the creature : as neither with the participator that
whereof it is participate.
Another. If not only to the Son by Nature accrues the
being Very Light, but the creature too have it, clearly of
superfluity as I think will the Psalmist say to some, Look Ps.xxxiv.
unto Him and be ye lightened. For that which is wholly of a
truth light, will not become light by participation of some
other, neither will it be illumined by enlightenment from
other, but rather will be endowed with perfect purity from
its own nature. But we see that man lacks light, being of
created nature ; and true is the Psalmist crying aloud as to
the Word of God, For Thou wilt light my candle, the Lord my lb. xviii.
God will enlighten my darkness. Not then of a truth light '
are we, but rather participate of the Word that lighteth, and
alien by nature from the Very Light, which is the Son.
Another of the same. If the mind of man is called a candle,
as it is sung in the Psalms, For Thou wilt light my candle, lb.
how shall we be of a truth light ? for to the candle the light is
imported and given. And if the Only -Begotten Alone lights
the darkness that is in us, how is not He rather of a truth
light, we not at all ? But if this be true, how can He be
connatural with the creature, Who is so far above it ?
Another. If to be very light can accrue to the creature, even
as to the Son, man will be very light, as being a portion of
it. To whom then did God the Father promise by the holy
Prophets saying, But unto you that fear My Name shall the Mal.iv.2.
Sun of Righteousness arise ? For whatever need of the Sun
to illumine it had the of a truth light ? Yet did God the
Father promise to give it us as being in need, and we have
78
God the Son Light,
Book I. received it and are lighted. Other then than we and the
' creature in regard to identity of essence is the Only-Begotten,
being Very Light and able to lighten things that need light.
Another. If not the Son Alone is Very Light, but the
creature too possess this, it will be consequently in us too.
Ps.xliii.3. What then induced the saints to cry aloud to God, send
out Thy Light and Thy Truth ? Wherein thinking to help
us thereby did they oftentimes send forth, tell me, those
words ? For if they knew that man is in need of light and
that he lacks this addition from another, how will any say with
truth, that he too is Very Light ? but if he needed not the
lighting word, why to no purpose did they call on Him Who
could in no wise aid them ? But one cannot say that the
mind of the saints failed of the truth, and God the Father
Himself sends the Son as to those who lack light. Other
therefore by Nature in respect of fhe creature is the Only-
Begotten, as lighting things that lack Light.
Another. If we say that the creature lacks light, and that
the Only-Begotten lightens it, the creature does not bring
itself to the Light ; hence neither is it Very Light as the
Son is.
Another. If that which is by nature and truth light does
not admit of darkness, and the Only-Begotten is Very Light,
and the creature likewise Very Light, why does the Scripture
Supra say of the Son, The darkness comprehended it not : but of us
2 e c'or.' iv. P au l saith, In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
4 - eyes of them which believe not? and again the Saviour Himself,
Infra xii. While ye have the light, walk in the light, lest darkness come
upon you. For it is I suppose clear to all, that unless it were
possible for some of us to be apprehended by the darkness,
our Saviour would not have said ought of this. How then
will any longer be the same in nature the Only-Begotten and
the creature, the Unchangeable with the changing, He Who
may not suffer ought that injures with the darkened and that
can acquire lighting, as something, that is, accruing to it, and
not inherent in it by nature ?
Another. If the Only -Begotten be not Alone Very Light,
but the creature have it too, as connatural with Him, how
'tm
the creature lighted.
79
cry we aloud to God the Father, In Thy Light shall we see
light ? For if we be very light, how shall we be enlightened
in another ? But if we as needing light from without us say
this, we clearly are not in truth light. Hence neither are
we connatural with the Word Who is by Nature so far
above us.
Another expository. Our Lord Jesus Christ is found to
say in the Gospel, And this is the condemnation, that light is
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light,
because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light. But if the Only-
Begotten is the Very Light, and the creature is capable of
being likewise very light : how cometh He in order to lighten
it, and it loved darkness ? How at all cometh it not to the
light, if itself be the very light ? For things that pertain to
any by nature have their" possession inherent : things that
are eligible of the will, have not that inherence : as for ex-
ample ; — not of one's own will does one attain to being a ra-
tional man ; for one has it by nature : but one will have it
of one's own will to be bad or good, and will likewise of
one's own power love righteousness or the reverse. If the
creature is by nature the light (for this is the meaning of
very), how cometh it not to the light ? or how loveth it the
darkness, as though it possessed not by nature the being very
light, but made through choice rather its inclination to the
better or the worse ?
Either therefore let our opponents dare to say that the
endowments above those of the creature are not naturally in-
herent in the Son, that they may be convicted of more naked
blasphemy and may hear from all, The Lord shall cut off
all deceitful lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things,
or if they surely confess that these goods are in Him Essen-
tially, let them not connect with Him in unity of nature,
the nature that is not so, as we have just shewn.
Another. If the Word of God be not Alone the Very
Light, but the creature too possess the being very light, as
He does, why does He say, I am the light of the world ? or
how shall we endure one to despoil our nature of its most
Chap.
VIII.
cap. i. 9.
Ps.xxxvi.
9.
Infra iii.
19, 20.
%
Ps. xii. 3.
Infra viii.
12.
mmmmm
80
God the Son Light,
Book I.
cap. i. 9.
lS.Pet.ii.
9.
2Cor.xiii,
3.
excellent pre-rogative, if it is any way possible that we too
should be very light, the originate nature likewise possessing
this ? But if the Only-Begotten says truly, I am the Light
of the world, by participation it is plain with Him, and no
otherwise, will the creature be light. If so, it is not conna-
tural with Him.
Another. If the Son be not Alone in truth Light, but this
exist in things originate also : — what shall we say, when
the most wise Paul writes to us, But ye are a chosen genera-
tion, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should shew forth the praises of Him Who hath called you out
of darkness into His marvellous Light ? For what kind of dark-
ness at all is there in us, or in what darkness were we, being
ourselves also the in truth light ? how have we been called
unto the light, who are not in darkness ? But neither does
the herald of truth speak untrulySvho was bold to say, Do
ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me ? and we are called
into His marvellous Light, as from darkness that is, and no
otherwise. But if this be true, the creature is not of a truth
light, but the Son is alone truly and strictly Light, and
things originate are so by participation of Him, and there-
fore they are not connatural with Him.
Ps. iv. 6.
LXX.
Infra xiv,
9.
Others with citation of utterances, gathering the readers by simpler
thoughts to the confession that the Son of God Alone is the Very
Light, the nature of things originate lighted by largess from Him,
not possessing the being light essentially as He is.
The Psalmist says, The light of Thy Countenance was im-
pressed upon us, Lord. And what is the Countenance of
God the Father Whose Light has been impressed upon us ?
Is it not surely the Only -Begotten Son of God, the Express
Image, and Which therefore says, He that hath seen Me hath
seen the Father ? But it was impressed on us, making us
of like form with Himself and engraving the illumination
which is through His own Spirit as a Divine Image upon those
who believe on Him, that they too may now be called as He
both gods and sons of God. But if ought of things origi-
nate were the very light, how was it impressed upon us ? For
the creature lighted.
81
the Light shineth in darkness, according to the unlying Cha. viii.
voice of the Spirit-clad. For how will light be manifest in Supraver.
light? " ■ ' 5 '
Another. The Psalmist says, Light sprang up for the Ps. xcvH.
righteous. If to him who hath and lacketh not, it is super-
fluous. But if the Light springeth up as to one who hath
it not, the Only-Begotten Alone is Light, the creature par-
ticipate of Light and therefore alien-in-nature.
Another. The Psalmist says, For they got not the land in
possession with their own sword, neither did their own arm
save them : but Thy Right Hand and Thine Arm and the
Light of Thy Countenance. The light of the countenance of
God the Father he here calls His revelation from the Son
through the Spirit, and His conducting thereof unto all things
that are, which alone was what saved Israel and liberated
them from the tyranny of the Egyptians. If then not the
Only-Begotten Alone be the very light, but an equal dignity
be inherent in the creature too, why were these of whom he
speaks not saved by their own light, but are set forth as sup-
plied by additions from an alien and needless light ? But
it is clear that the Only Begotten shone forth as on those lack-
ing Light. Hence is He (and that alone) the Very Light,
and the creature borrows of Him the grace. If so, how will
it any longer be connatural with Him ?
Another. The Psalmist says, Blessed is the people that know ib.lxxxix.
the joyful sound : they shall walk, Lord, in the Light of Thy
Countenance. Why shall not they too walk rather in their own
light ? why, tell me, do they gathering illumination from
another, hardly attain for themselves salvation, if they
too are in truth light, as is the Countenance of God the
Father, that is, the Son ? But it is I suppose plain to every
one from this too, that the Word bestoweth illumination
on the creature, as lacking it, it is saved by receiving what
it has not. How then are the Only-Begotten and the things
made through Him any longer the same in essence ?
Another. The Psalmist says, Unto the upright He hath Ib.cxii.4.
sent forth light in the darkness. How was the upright in
darkness at all, being himself too very light, if the nature of
VOL. i. G
%
82
Testimonies that God the
Book I
cap. i. i
m
Ib.xlii.6.
'I
tilings originate have this, just as the Only-Begotten ? But
if the Light is sent to the upright as not having it, we shall
not need many words ; for the very nature of things will
proclaim aloud that not the same in essence is the needy
with the Perfect, the Bestower out of abundance with the
lacking.
Isa. lx. l. Another. Arise, shine, Jerusalem :for thy Light is come,
and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. If the nature
of things originate have light from its own resources, and this
be strictly what we say that the Only -Begotten is in regard
of being Very Light, how did Jerusalem lack one to light
her ? But since she receives illumination as a grace, Very
Light Alone is the Son Who lights her and gives her what
she has not. If so, how is He not wholly Other by Nature
than she ?
Another. Behold I have given Thee for a covenant of the
people, for a light of the Gentiles. For how should the rational
creature that is on earth at all need light, if to be very light
is inherent in it by nature ? For God the Father gives His
Own Son to it as having it not already : and it receiving Him
proclaims by the very nature of the thing, both the poverty
of its own nature and the Rich Dignity of Him Who
lights it.
Another. house of Jacob, come ye and let us walk in the
light of the Lord. Why do these not rather walk in their
own light, but the Only- Begotten holds forth light to them,
implanting in them the own good of His Essence ? But
trusting not in what is their own, do they borrow what is
another's : as not having therefore, they know how to do this.
Another. The Saviour saith, I am the Light of the world :
he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness but shall have
the Light of life. Let the creature too dare to utter such a
word, if it too be by nature light. But if it shrink back from
the word, it will also flee the thing itself, confessing the true
Light, that is, the Son.
Another. The Lord saith, While ye have light, believe in
the Light, that ye may be the children of light. Would they who
were by nature light, by not believing, lose the light ? if it
lb. H. 5.
Infra viii
12.
Ib.xii.36.
Son is our Light.
83
be indeed any way possible for the originate essence to be Cha. yiii.
the very light. And how could this be ? For not as to
things that of essence accrue to any does the loss of them at
all happen through negligence, but as to things whereof the
will works the possession, and that can accrue and de-
part without the damage of the subject. As for example,
a man is rational by nature, a ship -builder by will, or infirm
in body by accident. He cannot at all become irrational ;
he may lose his ship-building experience, if for example he
be negligent, and he may drive away what befalls him
of sickness, hastening to improvement through medi-
cine. Therefore things that accrue to any essentially
have their position radical. If then the nature of things
originate can at all be the very light, how do they who will
not believe lose the light, or how will they who believe be-
come children of light ? For if they too are by nature the
light, they are called children of themselves. And what is
the reward to them that believe ? for they who do not re-
ceive the faith are rather their own children. From such
considerations inferring the truth, we shall say that the Only
Begotten is Alone the Very Light, the creature lacking light
and hence other in nature.
Another. Jesus then said unto them, Yet a little while is Infra xii.
35
the light with you : walk while ye have the light, lest darkness
come upon you. To this too you may apply well the argu-
ment used above. For that which is by nature light, will
never be apprehended by darkness.
Another. John saith, He that saitli he is in the light and \ s - Jolin
hateth his brother is in darkness even until now. Of choice
then is the light in us, and of will rather than of essence ac-
crues it to things originate, if he that hateth his brother is in
darkness. But the Only-Begotten is Light by Nature, for He
hath not the dignity as the fruit of choice. Hence neither is
He connatural to things originate "Who is so far above them.
Another akin to this. He that loveth his brother abideth Ib - "• 10 -
in the light. Love imparteth to things originate what they
have not, Light that is, but the Only -Begotten is Light :
Other therefore is He than they in whom through love He is.
g 2
CHAPTEE IX.
Acts x. 3.
Judg.xiii.
Zech.i.9.
1 Kara
vovv avrcf
Ib.ii.3,4.
t
I
Dan. viii,
15, 16.
That the soul of man does not exist prior to the body, nor is the
embodiment as some say a consequence of former sins.
Which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
Sure is the Divine, for he not only thinks that he ought
to declare that the Only-Begotten is indeed the Yery Light,
but he adds forthwith to the things that he has said the
demonstration thereof, all but crying aloud with most earnest
voice, I say that He is the Yery Light which lighteth every
man that cometh into the world.
Do then, (may one say who would fain receive the Divine
doctrines not without search,) the angels not lighten
the mind of men ? Cornelius, tell me, from whom
did he learn that he must by Baptism be saved by God ?
And Manoah the father of Sampson, was he not by an angel's
voice fore-instructed of things to come ? The Prophet
Zechariah likewise does he not clearly tell us, And the
angel that talked with me said unto me I will shew thee what
these be ? And again going through the same words, does
he not clearly shew that angels used to reveal the know-
ledge of hidden things spiritually to him x ? And behold, says
he, the angel that talked with me went forth and another an-
gel went out to meet him and said unto him Hun, speak to this
young man saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as toivns with-
out walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. What,
tell me, does not the most wise Daniel too, falling in with mar-
vellous visions, gain through the voice of angels the revela-
tion of the things beheld by him ? For hear him saying
And it came to pass when I, I Daniel had seen the vision and
sought for the meaning, then behold there stood before me as the
The creature aids from what it receives.
85
Chap, ix
cap. i. t).
Acts viii.
34.
S. Matt.
v. 11.
appearance of a man, and I heard a man's voice between the
banks of TJlai which called and said Gabriel, make this man
to understand the vision. Hence the power of lighting
is in angels, and not only in them, but even man too bor-
rows illumination from man. And of a truth that Eunuch
eager after learning when he understood not the prophecies
about our Saviour says to Philip, I pray thee, of whom speak-
eth the Prophet this ? of himself or of some other man ? And
they who hasten to this world's teachers, go to them I sup-
pose for no other reason than this alone. And why do we yet
linger in these things, when it is in our power to free
ourselves easily, producing as proof what was said by our
Saviour to the holy Apostles, Ye are the light of the world ?
Such things is it like that one in his perplexity will say, but
he will hear from us the reply, We see my friend that in the
creature is what is compound, and nought of simple is in it :
hence he who can give wisdom to others, if he be originate,
is not wisdom itself, but a minister of the wisdom that is in
him : for in wisdom is the wise man wise. And he who .
teaches the prudent, is not prudence itself, but the minister
of prudence that is in him ; for in prudence are these too
prudent. And he again who has skill to enlighten others,
is not the light itself, but the lender of the light that is in
him, imparting it to others alsp by teaching, and communi-
cating to the rest the good that he has received. Where-
fore it was said to the holy Apostles also, Freely ye have ib. x. 8.
received, freely give. For whatever goods there were in them,
these were surely God- given, and the nature of men may not
a whit boast itself of its own goods, nor yet that of the holy
Angels. For after the being called into being, each of
things that are has of God the mode of its existence, and
we lay it down for certain that nought is in them essentially
which is not a gift of the liberality of Him Who created, and '
has for its root the Favour of the Maker.
Since therefore things originate are compound, there will
be in them no light strictly and simply or without com-
pound, but this too with everything else they will have of
participation and receiving it of God. But the Very Light,
86
TJie Son lights and gladdens
S. Matt,
v. 14.
Book I. is that which lightens, not which is lighted of another ; and
cap. i. . ^ s £k e Only-Begotten is, considered in simple and uncom-
pounded nature : for the God-head withdraws from ought
of double.
These things then are thus. But the opponent will haply
say again to us, If the saints were not by nature light, why
did the Saviour call them not partakers of light, but light ?
And how is the creature other in nature than He, if as He
is called Light, so too is the rational creation ? For Ye are
the light of the world, did the disciples hear.
What then, excellent sir, will we reply ? Sons of God
and gods are we called by the Divine Scriptures, according
Ps.lxxxii. as it is said, I have said Ye are gods and all of you are
children of the Most High. Shall we then, leaving off being
what we are, mount up to the Divine and unutterable
Essence, and deposing the Word of God from His very
Sonship, in place of Him sit with the Father and make the
kindness of Him Who honours us a pretext for impiety ?
God forbid; but the Son will be unchangeably in that
which He is, we, adopted unto sonship and gods by grace,
not ignorant of what we are : and in this way do we believe
that the saints are light.
I think that we should consider and look at this also.
The rational portion of the preation being enlightened en-
lightens by participation of ideas out of the mind inpoured
into another's understanding, and such sort of enlighten-
ment will rightly be called teaching rather than revelation.
But the Word of God lighteth every man that cometh into the
world, not after the manner of teaching, as the angels for
example or men, but rather as God after the mode of crea-
tion He engrafteth in each of those that are called unto being,
the seed of wisdom or of Divine knowledge, and implanteth a
root of understanding and so rendereth the living creature
rational, shewing it participate of His own Nature, and
sending into the mind as it were certain luminous va-
pours of the Unutterable Brightness, in way and mode
that Himself knoweth : for one may not, I deem, say on these
subjects anything overmuch. Therefore our forefather
the creature with His own Light.
87
Adam too is seen to have attained the being wise not in time,
as we, but straightway from the first beginnings of his being
does he appear perfect in understanding, preserving in
himself the illumination given of God to his nature as yet
untroubled and pure, and holding the dignity of his nature
unadulterated.
The Son therefore lights after the manner of creation,
as being Himself the Very Light, and by participation with
the Light the creature shines forth, and is therefore called
and is light, mounting up to what is above its nature by the
kindness of Him Who glorified it and Who crowneth it
with divers honours, so that each one of those who have been
honoured, may with reason come forth and lifting up
prayers of thanksgiving, sing with loud voice, Bless the
Lord my soul and forget not all His benefits, Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities, Who healeth all thy diseases, Who re-
deemeth thy life from destruction, Who crowneth thee with
loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfieth thy mouth
with good things. For verily doth the Lord mercies, render-
ing those that are little and a mere nothing 3 according to their
own nature, great and worthy of marvel through His Goodness
toward them, even as He has, as God, willed to adorn us
ungrudgingly with His own goods, and hence calls us gods
and light, and what of good things does He not call us ?
What does he say next ? That He was in the world.
Profitably does the Divine add this also, introducing there-
by a thought most needful for us. For when he said, He
was the Very Light which lighteth every man coming into
the world, and it was not wholly clear to the hearers, whether
it meant that the Light lighteth every man that cometh
into the world, or that the Very Light itself, passing as from
some other place into the world, maketh its illumination of
all men : needs does the Spirit-bearer reveal to us the truth
and interpret the force of his own words, saying straightway
of the Light, that He was in the world : that hence you might
understand the words coming into the world of man, and that
it might be predicated rather of the enlightened nature, as
being called out of not being into being, j^or like a
Chap. ix.
cap. i.9.
Ps. ciii.
2-5.
lb. 6.
LXX.
2 e{ou0e-
Christ in the world and everywhere,
Book I.
cap. i. 9,
Ps.
cxxxix.
7-10.
certain place seen in thought is the not being to things ori-
ginate, whence in a sort of way passing into being, it takes at
length another place, that namely of being. Hence more
properly and fitly will the nature of man admit of itself that it
was lighted immediately from the first periods, and that it re-
ceived understanding coincident and co -fashioned with its
being from the Light Which is in the world, that is the
Only-Begotten, Who fills all things with the unspeakable
light of the God-head, and is present with the angels in
Heaven, is with those on the earth, leaves not even Hellitself
empty of His God-head, and everywhere abiding with all re-
moves from none, so that with reason does the most wise
Psalmist marvelling thereat say : Whither shall I go from Thy
Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy Presence? If I as-
cend up into Heaven, Thou art there : if I make my bed in
Hell, behold Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morn-
ing and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there
shall Thy Hand lead me, and Thy Might Hand shall hold
For the Divine Hand graspeth every place and all
Infra xii.
4G.
Ps. xliii.
3.
me.
creation, holding together into being things made and
drawing together unto life things lacking life, and implant-
ing the spiritual light in things recipient of understanding.
Yet It is not in place, as we have already said, nor does
it endure motion of place (for this is the property of bodies),
but rather fulfils all things as God.
But perhaps some one will say to this, What then do we
say, good sir, when any brings forward to us Christ saying,
I am come a light into the world ? what when the Psalmist
speaks, send out Thy Light and Thy Truth ? For lo here
He Himself clearly says that He is come into the world, as
not being in it, that is : and the Psalmist again was entreating
that He Who was not yet present should be sent, according,
that is, to the meaning of the words, and its declaration of
His being sent to us.
To this we say, that the Divine having clad the Only-
Begotten with God-befitting dignity says that He is ever
and unceasingly in the world, as Life by Nature, as Light
by Essence, fulfilling the creation as God, not circumscript
— w
mtm
m
the creature enters at its creation.
89
by place, not meted by intervals, not comprehended by
quantity, neither compassed at all by ought, nor needing to
pass from one place to another, but in all He dwells, none
He forsakes : yet he asserted that He came in the world
(although present therein) by the Incarnation. For He
shewed Himself upon earth and conversed with men with flesh,
making His Presence in the world more manifest thereby,
and He Who was aforetime comprehended by idea, seen at
length by the very eyes of the body also, implanted in us a
grosser so to speak perception of the knowledge of God,
made known by wonders and mighty deeds. And the Psalm-
ist entreats that the Word of God may be sent to us to en-
lighten the world, in no other way as seems to me, but in
this. But I think that the studious should consider this
again, that keener is the mind than all speech, sharper the
motion of the understanding than the tongue. Hence as far
as pertains to the delicacy of the mind and its subtil motion,
we behold the varied beauty of the Divine Nature : but we
utter the things respecting it in more human wise and in
the speech that belongs to us, the tongue not being able to
stretch forth unto the measure of the truth. Wherefore Paul
too, the steward of the Mysteries of the Saviour, used to ask
of God utterance to open his mouth. Nought then will the
poverty of our language hurt the Natural Dignities of the
Only-Begotten, but what belongs to Him will be conceived of
after a Divine sort, but will be uttered as matter of neces-
sity in more human wise, both by Him for our sakes and
by the Saints of Him according to the measure of our
nature.
It were then, it seems, not amiss to be content with what
has been already said in explanation of the words before us.
Yet since I deem that the pen that ministers to the Divine
doctrines should be above sloth, come let us bringing forward
the lection again examine more exactly how the words coming
into the world predicated of man, as is fit, should be under-
stood. For the light was in the world, as the Evangelist also
himself testified to us, and we have maintained that it was
not the Light that cometh into the world but rather the man
Chap. ix.
cap. i. y.
Bar. iii.
37.
Eph. vi.
19.
;:3^
90
Foolish imagination of some.
Book I.
cap. i. 9,
Jer. xxiii,
16.
Ps. cxix.
67.
Rom. vii,
24.
Ezek. xii,
3.
Ps. Ixxvi,
who is being lighted. Some therefore say, belching forth
of their own heart and not out of the mouth of the Lord, as it is
"written, that the souls of men were pre-existent in Heaven
before the fashioning of their bodies, passing long time in un-
embodied bliss, and enjoying more purely the true G-ood.
But when the sate of better things came into them and, de-
clining at length to the worser, they sank to strange thoughts
and desires, the Creator justly displeased sends them forth into
the world, and entangled them with bodies of earth compel-
ling them to be burdened therewith, and having shut them as
it were in some cave of strange pleasures, decreed to instruct
them by the very trial itself, how bitter it is to be carried
away to the worser, and to make no account of what is good.
And in proof of this most ridiculous fable of theirs, they
wrest first of all this that is now before us : He was the Very
Light Which lighteth every man coming into the world, and,
besides, certain other things of the Divine Scripture, such
as, Before I was afflicted I went astray, and moreover not
ashamed of such foolish prating say, Lo the soul says that
before its humiliation, that is, its embodiment, it transgressed
and that therefore it was justly afflicted, brought in bondage
to death and corruption, even as Paul too stileth the body
saying wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from
the body of this death ? But if the soul, he says, goeth
astray before it was afflicted, it also cometh into the world,
as having that is a previous being (for how could it sin at
at all if it existed not yet ?) ; and cometh into the world, set-
ting out that is from some quarter. Such things as these
they stringing against the doctrines of the Church and heap-
ing up the trash of their empty expositions in the ears of the
of the faithful will rightly hear, Woe unto the foolish pro-
phets that follow their own spirit and have seen nothing !
For visions in truth, and auguries by birds and prophecies
of their own heart they setting against the words spoken by
the Spirit, do not perceive to how great absurdity their
device will run ; as the Psalmist says unto God, Thou, Thou
art to be feared : and who may stand in Thy Sight when
once Thou art angry ?
The soul not prior to the body.
91
But that it is most exceedingly absurd to suppose that the Chap. ix.
soul pre-exists, and to think that for elder transgressions it
was sent down into bodies of earth, we shall endeavour to
prove according to our ability by the subjoined considera-
tions, knowing what is written, Give instruction to a wise Prov « ix -
man, and he will be yet wiser : teach a just man, and he will
increase in learning.
Thoughts or considerations of a complex kind in the way of demon-
stration.
1. If the soul of man have existence prior to the for-
mation of the body, and, declining to evil according to the
surmises of some, has for punishment of its transgression a
descent into flesh, how, tell me, does the Evangelist say that
it is lighted on coming into the world ? For this I suppose
is honour and the addition of fair gifts. But not by being
honoured is one punished, nor yet chastised by being made
recipient of the Divine good things, but by meeting with
what is of the wrath of the punisher. But since man
on his coming into the world is not in this condition, but on
the contrary is even lighted, it is I suppose clear that he
that is honoured with flesh has not his embodiment for a
punishment.
2. Another. If before the body the soul were a mind yet
pure, living in bliss, and by turning aside to ill fell, and
therefore came to be in flesh, how is it lighted on its entry
into the world ? For one must needs say that it was desti-
tute of light before it came : if so, how any longer was that
pure mind which had then scarce a beginning of being
lighted, when it came into the world, and not without flesh ?
3. Another. If the soul of man existed before the body; and
the mind therefore existed yet pure, attached more properly
to the desire of good things, but from turning aside to the
worser is sent into earthly body, and being therein, no
longer rejects the will to transgress, how is it not wronged,
not then specially entrusted with the doing of this, when it
existed with a greater aptness for virtue, not as yet in
bondage to the ills that proceed from the body, but when it
92
Souls not created
Book I. had come into the turbid waters of sin, then out of season
cap. i. 9.
' compelled to do this ? But the Divinity will not miss of
the befitting time, nor that injure to Whose Nature doing
injury belongeth not. In season then and rightly do we
refuse sin when in the flesh, having this season alone of
being, in which with bodies we come into the world, leav-
ing the former not being, as though a certain place, and
from it passing into a beginning of being.
4. Another. What reason is there, I would fain ask
them, in the soul that sinned prior to the body being sent
into the body, that it might learn by experience the dis-
grace of its own lusts ? For they are not ashamed to set forth
this too, although it ought rather to have been withdrawn
from the very imagination of its ills, not thrust down to the
very depth of base pleasures. For this rather than the
other were a mode of healing. If then it has the embodi-
ment an increase of its disease in order that it may revel in
the pleasures of the body, one would not praise the Correc-
tor, injuring that which was sick by the very means where-
by He thought to advantage it. But if it has it in order
that it may cease from its passions, how is it possible that it
having fallen into the very depth of lust should arise, and
not rather have spurned the very beginning of the disease,
while it was free from that which dragged it down into
sin?
5. Another. If the soul in pre-existence transgressed and
was for this reason entangled with flesh and blood, receiv-
ing this in the nature of punishment, how is it not the duty
of them who believe in Christ and who received there-
by the remission of sin, to go forthwith out of their bodies
and to cast away that which is put about them as a punish-
ment ? How, tell me, does the soul of man have perfect
remission while yet bearing about it the method of its pu-
nishment? But we see that they who believe are so far from
wishing to be freed from their bodies, that together with
their confessions in Christ they declare the resurrection of
the flesh. No method of punishment then will that be
which is honoured even with the confession of the faith,
before their bodies.
93
witnessing, through its return back to life, to the Divine Chap. ix.
Power of the Saviour the being able to do all things easily.
6. Another. If the soul pre-existing according to them sin-
ned and was for this reason entangled with flesh, why does
the Law order the graver offences to be honoured with
death, and suffer him who has committed no crime to live ?
For I suppose that it would rather have been right to let
those who are guilty of the basest ill linger long in their
bodies, that they might be the more heavily punished, and
to let those who had committed no crime free from their
bodies, if the embodiment ranks as a punishment. But on
the contrary, the murderer is punished with death, the
righteous jnan suffers nothing in his body. The embodiment
does not therefore belong to punishment.
7. Another. If souls were embodied for previous sins, and
the nature of the body were invented as a species of punish-
ment for them, how did the Saviour profit us by abolishing
death ? how was not rather decay a mercy, destroying that
which punished us, and putting an end to the wrath against
us ? Hence one might rather say that it were meeter to
give thanks to decay than on the contrary to Him Who laid
on us endless infliction through the resurrection of the dead.
And yet we give thanks as freed from death and decay
through Christ. Hence embodiment is not of the nature of
punishment to the soul of man.
8. Another from the same idea. If the souls of men were
entangled with earthly bodies in satisfaction of elder trans-
gressions, what thank tell me shall we acknowledge to God
Who promises us the Resurrection ? For this is clearly a
renewal of punishment and a building up of what hurts us, if
a long punishment is clearly bitter to every one. It is then
hard that bodies should rise which have an office of punish-
ment to their wretched souls. And yet nature has from
Christ, as a gift renewing it unto joy, the resurrection.
The embodiment is not therefore of the nature of punish-
ment.
9. Another. The Prophetic word appears as publishing
to us some great and long desired-feast. For, says it, the j*- xxvi.
TAX.
4\
94
Souls and bodies alike created
Book I.
cap. i. 9.
7 t
Gen. xv.
5.
Deut. i.
10, 11.
S. James
iv. 3.
dead shall arise, and they that be in the tombs shall be raised.
But if the embodiment were indeed of the nature of punish-
ment to the wretched souls of men, how would not the Prophet
rather sorrow when proclaiming these things as from God ?
How will that proclamation be in any way good which brings
us the duration of what vexes us ? For he should rather hare
said, if he wished to rejoice those who had received bodies
by reason of sin, The dead shall not arise, and the nature of the
flesh shall perish. But on the contrary he rejoices them
saying that there shall be a resurrection of bodies by the will
of God. How then can the body wherein both ourselves rejoice
and God is well pleased be (according to the uncounsel of
some) of the nature of a punishment ?
10. Another. God, in blessing the blessed Abraham
promised that his seed should be as the multitude innume-
rable of the stars. If it be true that the soul sinning before
the body is sent down to earth and flesh to be punished,
God promised to the righteous man, an ignoble multitude of
condemned, runagates from good, and not a seed participant
of blessing. But God says this as a blessing to Abraham :
hence the origin of bodies is freed from all accusal.
11. Another. The race of the Israelites spread forth
into a multitude great and innumerable. And indeed justly
marvellous at this does the hierophant Moses pray saying
to them, And behold ye are this day as the stars of hea-
ven for multitude: the Lord God of your fathers make you
a thousand times so many more as ye are. But if it were
punishment to the souls of men to be in the world with
bodies, and they must needs so be, and not bare of them,
Moses' saying will be found to be verily a curse, not a bless-
ing. But it is not so, it was made as a blessing : the em-
bodiment therefore is not of the nature of punishment.
12. Another. To those who attempt to ask amiss God
endures not to give. And an unlying witness to us will be
the disciple of the Saviour, saying, Ye ask and receive not,
because ye ask amiss. If then it were a punishment to a
soul to be embodied, how would not one with reason say
that Hannah the wife of Elkanah missed widely of what was
in Blessing to us from God.
95
fit, when she so instantly poured her prayer unto God and
asked for a man child. For she was asking for the down-
fall of a soul and its descent into a body. How then came
God to give her the holy Samuel as her son, if it were wholly
of necessity that a soul should sin, in order that so, en-
tangled with a body, it might fulfil the woman's request.
And yet God gave, to Whom it is inherent to give only good
things and, by readily assenting to her, He frees her request
from all blame. Hence embodiment is not a result of sin,
nor yet of the nature of punishment as some say.
13. Another. If the body has been given as a punish-
ment to the soul of man, what induced Hezekiah the king
of Jerusalem, although good and wise, to deprecate not
without bitter tears the death of the body, and to shrink from
putting off the instrument of his punishment, and to beseech
that he might be honoured with an increase of years, al-
though he surely ought, if he were really good, not to have
deprecated death, but to have thought it a burden to be en-
tangled with a body and to have acknowledged this rather
than the other as a favour. And how did God promise him
as a favour saying, Behold I will add unto thy days fifteen
years, albeit the promise was an addition of punishment,
not a mode of kindness, if these set forth the truth ? Yet
the promise from above was a gift and the addition a
kindness. Hence the embodiment is not a punishment to
souls.
14. Another. If the body is given to the soul of man in
the light of punishment, what favour did God repay to the
Eunuch who brought up Jeremiah out of the dungeon, say-
ing, I will give thy life for a prey and will save thee from
the Chaldeans ? For He should rather have let him die that
He might also honour him, releasing him from the prison and
punishment. What tell me did He give to the young men
of Israel, in delivering them from the flame and from the
cruelty of the Babylonians ? why did He rescue the wise
Daniel from the cruelty of the lions ? But verily He doeth
these things in kindness and is glorified because of them.
The dwelling in the flesh is not then of the nature of punish-
Chap. ix.
cap. i. 9.
1 Sam. i.
11.
Is.
xxxviii.5.
Cf Jer.
xxxix. 17,
18.
Dan. ii
lb. vi.
96
Bodies given us not for punishment
Bqok I.
cap .i .9,
2 Cor. v.
10.
Rom. xii,
1.
Cf Phil,
iv. 18.
Rom. v.
14.
Infra ix.
2.
ment, in order that honour and punishment at God's hands
may not be one and the same.
15. Another. Paul teaching us that there shall be in due
time an investigation before the Divine Judgment-seat of
each man's life says, For we must all appear before the judge-
ment-seat of Christ, that every one may receive the things done
in his body, according to that he done, whether it be good or bad.
But if it be only for the things done in the body that a man
either receiveth punishment at the hands of the Judge, or is
accounted worthy of befitting reward, and no mention is
made of prior sins, nor any charge previous to his
birth gone into : how had the soul any pre-existence, or how
was it humbled in consequence of sin, as some say, seeing
that its time with flesh is alone marked out, for that the
things alone that were done in it are gone into ?
16. Another. If souls were embodied on account of pre-
vious sins, how does Paul write to us saying, Present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God ? For if
in the nature of punishment they were given to our wretched
souls, how should we present then for an odour of a sweet
smell to God ? how will that be acceptable through which
we received our sentence ? or what kind of virtue at all will
that admit of, whose nature is punishment, and root sin ?
17. Another. Shewing that corruption is extended against
the whole nature of man, because of the transgression in
Adam, Paul saith, Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to
Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude
of Adam's transgression. How then does he say that death
reigned even over them that had not sinned, if the mortal
body were given us in consequence of former sins ? For
where at all are they that have not sinned, if the embodi-
ment be the punishment of faults, and our being in this
life with our body is a pre-existing charge against us ?
Unlearned then is the proposition of our opponents.
18. Another. The Disciples once made enquiry of our
Saviour concerning one born blind, and said, Master who did
sin, this man or his parents, that he was bom blind ? For
since it is written in the prophetic Scriptures, of God, that
but in God's good pleasure.
97
He visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, the
disciples began to imagine that such was the case with
this man. What then does Christ say to this ? Verily I
say to you, neither hath this man sinned nor his parents, but
that the works of God should be made manifest in Mm. How
then does He exempt them from sin, although not free from
blame as to their lives ? for being men, they were surely
liable also to faults. But it is manifest and clear that
the discourse pertains to the period prior to birth, during
which they not yet existing, neither had they sinned, that
Christ may be true.
19. Another. The blessed Prophet Isaiah explaining the
reason of the earth being made says, He created it not in vain,
He formed it to be inhabited. But it was altogether right
that the earth should be inhabited, not filled with bare spirits,
nor with fleshless and unclad souls, but with bodies suit-
able to it. Was it then Divine Counsel that wrought that
souls should sin, in order that the nature of bodies should also
come into being, and thus at length the earth be shewn to
have been created not in vain ? But this is absurd ; the
other therefore has the better.
20. Another. Wisdom the Artificer of all things says of
herself in the book of Proverbs I was she in whom He re-
joiced, the Creator of all that is, and I daily rejoiced always
before Him when He rejoiced in having consummated the world
and toolc delight in the sons of men. When then on His com-
pletion of the world, God rejoices exceedingly in the form-
ing of man, how will he not be bereft of all sense who
subjects the soul to previous sins and says that it was there-
fore embodied, and was punished after this fashion ?
For will not God be the maker of a prison rather than a
world ? will He not be delighting contrary to reason in
those who are undergoing punishment ? And how will
He be Good who delights in things so absurd ? But verily
He is Good and therefore the Maker of things good : the
embodiment will not therefore be of the nature of punish-
ment.
21. Another. If the soul of man by its entanglement
VOL. 1. H
Chap. ix.
c.i. 9, 10.
Exod. xx.
5.
Infra ix.
3.
Isa. xlv.
18.
Prov. viii.
30, 31.
LXX.
98
Bodies a kindness, not a punishment.
Book I. with flesh pays the penalty of transgressions prior to its
' ' birth in the world, and the body occupies the position of a
2 S. Pet. punishment to it, why was the Flood brought in upon the
world of the ungodly, and Noah being upright was pre-
served and has this recompense of his faith from God ? For
ought not rather those who had sinned exceedingly to have
lingered longer time in the body that they might be punished
also more severely, and the good to have been set free from
their bonds of flesh and received the release from the body
as the recompense of their piety toward God ? But I suppose
that the Creator of all being Righteous lays on each rank
the sentence due to it. Since then He being Righteous
punishes the ungodly with the death of the body, gladdens
again the righteous with life together with the body : bodies
are no punishment to the souls of men, that God be not un-
righteous, punishing the ungodly with favour, honouring
again the righteous with punishment.
22. Another. If to pay the penalty of previous offences the
soul has descended into flesh and body, how did the Saviour
love Lazarus, raising him, and compelling him who was
once set free from his bands to return to them again ? But
Christ did it helping him and as a friend did Ha honour
the dead by raising him from the dead. To no purpose then
is the proposition of the opponents.
23. Another. If, as those in their nonsense say, the
body was given to the soul in the light of a punishment,
devised on account of former sin of its, it was sin that
brought in the nature of human bodies. But again also death
entered by sin : sin therefore clearly appears arming itself
against itself, undoing the beginning by what follows, and
Satan is therefore divided against himself, how then shall
his kingdom stand ? as our Saviour saith. But verily so to
think is incredible: the contrary therefore is true.
24. Another. God created all things in incorruption and
He made not death, but through envy of the devil came death
into the world. But if it be true, that the body was given in
nature of punishment to the soul of man, why, sirs, should
we accuse the envy of the devilfor bringing in to us the termi-
Infraxi.
36.
Rom.
12.
S. Luke
xi. 18.
Wisdom i.
13; ii. 24.
God the Son Uncreated Light.
99
nation of wretchedness and destroying the body which is Chap. ix.
our punishment ? And for what in the world do we offer
thanks to the Saviour for having again bound us to the flesh
through the resurrection ? yet we do indeed give thanks, and
the envy of the devil has vexed our nature, procuring cor-
ruption to our bodies. No mode of punishment then is the
body nor yet is it the wages of our former sin.
i<
And the world was made by Him.
The Evangelist in these words needfully indicates that
the world was made through the Very Light, that is, the Only-
Begotten. For although, having called Him most distinctly
Word at the beginning, he affirmed that all things were made Supra ver.
through Him and that without Sim nothing was brought into
being, and demonstrated thereby that He was their Maker
and Creator : yet it was necessary now most particularly to
take this up again anew, that no room of error and perdition
might be left to those who are wont to pervert the up-
rightness of the Divine dogmas. For when he said of the
Light that it was in the world, that no one wresting the say-
ing to senseless conceptions, should make the Light connu-
merate with the visible portions of the universe (as sun and
moon and stars for example are in the world, but as parts of the
universe, and as limbs of one body), profitably and of necessity
does the Evangelist introduce the Only -Begotten as Fashioner
and Artificer of the whole universe, and thereby again fully
stablishes us and leads us into an unerring and right appre-
hension of the truth. For who would be so silly or have such
great folly in his mind, as not to conceive that wholly other
than the universe is He through Whom it is said to have been
made, and to put the creature in its own place, to sever off the
Creator in reasoning and to conceive that His Nature is Di-
vine ? For the thing made must needs be other in nature
than the Maker, that maker and made appear not the same.
For if they be conceived of as the same, without any in-
herent distinction as to the mode of being, the made will
mount up to the nature of the Maker, the Creator descend
to that of the creatures, and will no longer have Alone the
h 2
100
The world knew not God the Son,
Book I. power of bringing into being, but this will be found to exist
* in potential in things made also, if nothing at all severs them
from being consubstantial with God : and so at length the
creature will be its own creator and the Evangelist will endow
the Only- Begotten with a mere title of honour when he says
that He was in the world, and the v)orld, was made by Him. But
he knows that the Creator of all things is One in Nature.
Not as the same then will made and Maker, God and creature
be conceived of by those who know how to believe aright,
but the one will be subject as a bondman, acknowledging
the limit of its own nature : the Son will reign over it, having
Alone with the Father the power both to call things which
be not as though they were and by His ineffable Power to
bring that which is not yet into being.
But that the Son being by Nature God, is wholly Other than
the creature, we having already sufficiently gone through in
the Discourse of the Holy Trinity, will say nothing more here.
But we will add this for profit, that in saying that the world
was made through Him he brings us up to the thought of
the Father, and with the " Through Whom " brings in also
the " Of Whom." For all things are from the Father through
the Son in the Holy Ghost.
Rom. iv.
17.
?r;:
■ I :■ i
And the world knew Him, not.
The bearer of the Spirit is watchful and hastens to fore-
stall the sophistry of some ; and you may marvel again at the
Supra ver. reasoning in his thoughts. He named the Son Very Light,
and affirmed that He lighteth every man that cometh into the
world, and besides says that He was in the world and the
world ivas made through Him.
But one of our opponents might forthwith say, „ If the
„ Word, sirs, were light and if it lighted the heart of every
„ man, unto Divine knowledge that is and unto the under-
„ standing that befits man, and if it were always in the world
„ and were Himself its Maker, how came He to be unknown
„ even during so long periods ? He therefore was not light-
„ ing nor yet was He at all the Light.' 1
These things the Divine meets with some warmth saying
through its own fault.
101
The world knew Him not : not on His own account was He Chap. ix.
unknown, says lie ; but let the world blame its own weak-
ness. For the Son lighteth, the creature blunts the grace.
It had imparted to it sight to conceive of Him Who is
God by Nature, and it squandered the gift, it made things
made the limit of its contemplation, it shrank from going
further, it buried the illumination under its negligence, it
neglected the gift which that it might not befall him Paul \J im - iv -
commands his disciple to watch. Nought then to the light 2 Tim. iv.
is the ill of the enlightened. For as the light of the sun rises
upon all, but the blind is nothing profited, yet we do not
therefore reasonably blame the sun's ray, but rather find
fault with the disease of the sight (for the one was lighting,
the other received not the lighting) : so (I deem) ought we
to conceive of the Only-Begotten also, that He is Very Light.
But the god of this world, as Paul too saith, hath blinded the 2 Cor. iv.
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the knowledge
of God should shine among them. We say then that the
man was subjected to blindness herein, not that he reached
a total deprivation of light (for the God-given understand-
ing is surely preserved in his nature) but that he was
quenching it with his more foolish manner of life and that
by turning aside to the worse he was wasting and melting
away the measure of the grace. Wherefore the most wise
Psalmist too when representing to us the character of such
an one, then indeed (and rightly) begs to be enlightened,
saying to God, Open Thou mine eyes that I may behold won- p s . cxix.
drous things out of Thy law. For He gave them the law to be i s ^ v yj #
their help, which re-kindled in us the Divine Light and ?°-^ x
purged away like a sort of humour from the eyes of the
heart the darkness which came upon them from the ancient
unlearning.
The world then is under the charge of unthankfulness
alike and want of perception in this matter, both as ignorant
of its own Creator, and shewing forth no good fruit from
being lighted, that that again may be manifestly true of it,
which was sung by prophet's voice of the children of Israel,
I looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth Isa. v. 4
m
102
God the Son not received
J
Book I.
cap. i. 11,
thorns. For the fruit of being enlightened is verily the true
apprehension of the Only Begotten,, hanging like a grape-
bunch from the vine branch, I mean man's understanding,
and not on the contrary the uncounsel that leads to poly-
theistic error, like the sharp briar rising up within us and
wounding to death our mind with its deceits.
I I
Ps. xlix.
20.
Rom. xi.
22.
1 1 He came unto His own and His own received Him not.
The Evangelist pursues his plea that the world knew not
its Illuminer, that is the Only-Begotten, and from the worse
sin of the children of Israel, he hastens to clench the charges
against the Gentiles and shews the disease of ignorance
alike and unbelief which lay upon the whole world. Very
appositely does he drive forward to discourse of the Incarna-
nation, and from speaking of the Godhead a , he comes down
by degrees to the exposition of the Dispensation with Flesh,
which the Son made for our sakes.
For it were no marvel if the world knew not, says he, the
Only-Begotten, seeing that it had left the understanding
that befits man, and was ignorant that it is and was made in
honour, and compared to the beasts that perish, as the Di-
vine Psalmist also said; when the very people who were
supposed above all to belong to Him shook Him off when
present with the Flesh and would not receive Him when .He
came among them for salvation to all, recompensing to faith
the kingdom of Heaven. But observe how exact is his lan-
guage about these things. For the world he accuses of not
at all knowing Him Who lighteth it, elaborating for it a
pardon so to speak just on this account, and preparing be-
forehand reasonable causes for the grace given to it : but
of those of Israel who were reckoned among those specially
belonging to Him, he says, Received Him not. For it would
not have been true to say, Knew Him not, when the older
law preached Him, the Prophets who came after led them
by the hand to the apprehension of the truth. The sen-
tence therefore of severity b upon them was just, even as the
• 4% aitpdrov 6to\oylas " from pure the Flesh.
Theology," speaking of the Divine Na- b atroToplas as in Rom. 1. c. " cutting
ture apart from the Dispensation with off."
by Israel, who was His own.
103
goodness too upon the Gentiles. For the world, or the Gen- Chap. ix.
tiles, having lost their relation c x with God through their 1 lK^iw<nv
downfall into evil, lost besides the knowledge of Him
Who enlighteneth them : but the others, who were rich
in knowledge through the law and called to a polity pleasing
to God, were at length voluntarily falling away from it, not
receiving the Word of God Who was already known to them
and Who came among them as to His own. For the whole
world is God's own, in regard of its creation, and its being
brought into being from Him and through Him : but Israel
will more fitly be called His own d , and will gain the glory
hereof, both on account of the election of the holy fathers
and for that he was named the beginning and the first-born
of the children of God. For Israel is My son, My first-born, Exod. iv.
says God somewhere to Moses : whom also setting apart for
Himself as one and picked out, He was wont to call His own
people, saying to Pharaoh king of Egypt Let My people go. Ib.viii.i.
Proof from the books of Moses also shews that Israel spe-
cially pertains unto God. For when, it says, the Most High was Deut.
dividing the nations, when he was separating the sons of Adam, LXX. '
he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the
angels of God, and his people Jacob became the Lord's portion,
Israel the lot of his inheritance. Among whom He also walked,
as in His own lot and special portion, saying, I am not sent s - Matt.
but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
But when He was not received, He transfers the grace to
the Gentiles, and the world which knew Him not at the be-
ginning is lighted through repentance and faith, and Israel
returns to the darkness whence he had come forth. Where-
fore the Saviour too saith, For judgement I am come into this Infra i
world, that they which see not might see, and that they which
see might be made blind.
39.
12 But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to became
the sons of Gad, to them that believe on His Name.
A right judgement verily and worthy of God ! The first-
born, Israel, is cast out ; for he would not abide in-ownness 3 " «V <>««'-
" oiKtioxfis, the relation of belonging d t<|3 t^s iSiotijtos airoH(K\7)ff(Tai
to the household. \6y<fi
104
Israel rejected,
Book I.
cap. i. 12
WW
\\ ' i
i H
8 /xerafio-
fferai
Rom. xi.
24.
Isa. i. 4.
lS.Pet.ii,
9.
1 Cor. xv,
49.
Gen. i. 27.
with God, nor did lie receive the Son, Who came among His
own, he rejected the Bestower of Nobility, he thrust away
the Giver of Grace : the Gentiles received Him by faith.
Therefore will Israel with reason receive the wages of their
folly, they will mourn the loss of good things, they will receive
the bitter fruit of their own ill- counsel, bereft of the sonship ;
and the Gentiles will delight them selves in the good things that
are through faith, they shall find the bright rewards of their
obedience and shall be planted out 8 in his place. For they
shall be cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and
be graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree. And
Israel shall hear, Ah sinful nation, a people laden with ini-
quity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters, they
have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of
Israel unto anger : but one of Christ's disciples shall say to
the Gentiles, But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priest-
hood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should shew
forth the praises of Him Who hath called you out of darkness
into His marvellous Light. For since they received the Son
through faith, they receive the power to be ranked among
the sons of God. For the Son gives what is His alone and
specially and of nature to be in their power, setting it forth
as common, making this a sort of image of the love for man
that is inherent to Him, and of His love for the world. For
in none other way could we who bore the image of the earthy
escape corruption, unless the beauty of the image of the hea-
venly were impressed upon us, through our being called to
sonship. For being partakers of Him through the Spirit,
we were sealed unto likeness with Him and mount up to the
primal character of the Image after which the Divine Scrip-
ture says we were made. For thus hardly recovering
the pristine beauty of our nature, and re-formed unto
that Divine Nature, shall we be superior to the ills that have
befallen us through the transgression. Therefore we mount
up unto dignity above our nature for Christ's sake, and we
too shall be sons of God, not like Him in exactitude, but by
grace in imitation of Him. For He is Very Son, existing
from the Father ; we adopted by His Kindness, through
\4
the Gentiles received.
105
grace receiving I have said, Ye are gods and all of you are Chap. ix.
children of the Most High. For the created and subject p s .ixxxii!
nature is called to what is above nature by the mere nod and *
will of the Father : but the Son and God and Lord will not
possess this being God and Son, by the will of God the Fa-
ther, nor in that He wills it only, but beaming forth of the
Very Essence of the Father, He receives to Himself by Na-
ture what is Its own Good. And again He is clearly seen
to be Very Son, proved 4 by comparison with ourselves. For 4 SoKina-
since that which is by Nature has another mode of being
from that which is by adoption, and that which is in truth
from that which is by imitation, and we are called sons of
God by adoption and imitation : hence He is Son by Nature
and in truth, to Whom we made sons too are compared,
gaining the good by grace instead of by natural endow-
ments.
£6/j.fvos
13 Which were begotten, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh
nor of the will of man but of God.
They who, he says, have been called by faith in Christ unto
sonship with God, put off the littleness of their own na-
ture, and adorned with the grace of Him Who honoureth them
as with a splendid robe mount up unto dignity above nature :
for no longer are they called children of flesh, but rather
offspring of God by adoption.
But note how great guardedness the blessed Evangelist
used in his words. For since he was going to say that
those who believe arebegotten of God, lest any should suppose
that they are in truth born of the Essence of God the Fa-
ther and arrive at an exact likeness with the Only-Begotten,
or that of Him too is less properly said, From the womb before Ps. ex. 3.
the Day star begat I Thee, and so at length He too should
be brought down to the nature of creatures, even though
He be said to be begotten of God, needs does he contrive
this additional caution. For when he had said that power
was given to them from Him Who is by Nature Son, to be-
come sons of God, and had hereby first introduced that
which is of adoption and grace, without peril does he after-
106
Israel had the type,
Book I.
cap. i. 13.
5 oiKeiS-
rt\ra <pv-
autty
Isa. i. 2.
LXX.
Heb.x.l.
lb. ix. 10,
Rom. viii
15.
1 Cor. x.
2.
Gal. iii.
19.
wards add were begotten of Ood; that lie might shew the
greatness of the grace which was conferred on them, gather-
ing as it were into kinness of nature 5 that which was alien
from God the Father and raising up the bond to the no-
bility of its Lord, by means of His warm love to it.
What more then, will one perchance say, or what special
have they who believe in Christ over Israel, since he too is
said to have been begotten of God, as in, I begat and exalted
sons, but they rejected Me ? To this I think one must say,
first, that the Law having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, did not give to the
children of Israel to have even this in truth, but limned as
in type and outline upon them, until the time of reforma-
tion, as it is written, wherein they should at length be ma-
nifested who should more fitly and truly call God Father,
because the Spirit of the Only-Begotten dwells in them.
■ For the one had the spirit of bondage to fear, the other the
spirit of adoption unto liberty, whereby we cry Abba, Father.
Therefore the people who should attain unto sonship through
faith that is in Christ, were fore-described in Israel as it
were in shadow, even as we conceive that the circumcision
in Spirit was fore-typified in theirs of old in the flesh, and
in short, all of ours were in them in type. Besides, we say
that Israel was called to sonship typically through the me-
diator Moses. Wherefore they were baptized into him too,
as Paul saith, in the cloud and in the sea, and were re-
fashioned out of idolatry unto the law of bondage, the com-
mandment contained in the letter being ministered by angels :
but they who by faith in Christ attain unto sonship with God,
are baptized into nought originate, but into the Holy Trinity
Itself, through the Word as Mediator, Who conjoined to
Himself things human through the Flesh which was united
to Him, being conjoined of nature to the Father, in that He
is by Nature God. For so mounteth up the bond unto
sonship, through participation with the in truth Son, called
and so to say raised up to the dignity which is in Him by
Nature. Wherefore we who have received the regeneration
by the Spirit through faith, are called and are begotten of God.
jj we the verity. 107
f
: But since some in mad peril dare to lie, as against the Chap. ix.
Son, so against the Holy Ghost too, saying that He is origi-
nate and created, and to thrust Him forth altogether from
Consubstantiality with God the Father, come let us again
arraying the word of the true Faith against their unbridled
: tongues, beget occasions of profit both to ourselves and to
I our readers. For if neither God by Nature, sirs, nor yet
of God, is He Who is His Own Spirit and therefore Essen-
tially inexistent in Him, but is other than He, and not re-
moved from being connatural with things made, how are we
: ; who are begotten through Him said to be begotten of God ?
For either we shall say that the Evangelist certainly lies, or (if
he is true and it be so and not otherwise), the Spirit will be
:, God and of God by Nature, of Whom we too being accounted
: worthy to partake through faith to Christ-ward, are rendered
partakers of the Divine Nature and are said to be begotten of 2 S. Pet. i.
i. God, and are therefore called gods, not by grace alone wing-
ing our flight to the glory that is above us, but as having
»■■ now God too indwelling and lodging in us, according to what
■I is said in the prophet, I will dwell in them and walk in them. ^ Cor ; vi -
• 1 r r . 16, e Lev.
:,* For let them tell us who are filled full with so great un- xxvi. 12.
; learning, how, having the Spirit dwelling in us, we are ac- J fi Cor * U1 *
i cording to Paul temples of God, unless He be God by Nature.
I For if He be a creature and originate, wherefore does God Ib - 17 -
|! destroy us, as de fling the temple of God when we defile the
body wherein the Spirit indwells, having the whole Na-
tural Property 6 of God the Father and likewise of the Only- 6 fayvrliv
Begotten ? And how will the Saviour be true m saying : i8i6tt)to.
If a 'man love Me, he tvill keep My Words : and My Father ivill Infra
love him and we will come unto him and make Our abode with
him and rest 7 in him? albeit it is the Spirit Who dwells in 7 KaraXv-
0"OU€V
us, and through Him do we believe that we have the Father
and the Son, even as John himself said again in his epistles,
Hereby know we that we dwell in Him and He in us, because 1 S. John
He hath given us of His Spirit. And how at all will He be
called Spirit of God, if He be not of Him and in Him by
Nature and therefore God ? For if being, as those say,
originate, He is the Spirit of God, there is nothing to hinder
lb
mam
m
108
God the Son was made Flesh,
m
m
hi
hi
if
i
{
Hi!
I,!
Book I.
cap. i. 14.
De Tri-
nitate ad
Herm.
dial. 7 pp.
631 sqq.
the other creatures too from being called spirits of God. For
this will have already overtaken them in potential, if it is at
all possible that originate essence should be Spirit of God.
And it were meet in truth to set forth a long discourse
upon these things and to satiate more at length, overturning
the uncounsels of the heretics. But having already suffi-
ciently gone through what relates to the Holy Ghost, in the
Be Trinitate, we shall therefore forbear to say much yet.
Joel ii. 28.
14 And the Word was made Flesh.
8 Kadapus He has now entered openly 8 upon the declaration of the In-
carnation. For he plainly sets forth that the Only-Be-
gotten became and is called son of man ; for this and nought
else does his saying that the Word was made Flesh signify :
for it is as though he said more nakedly The Word was
made Man. And in thus speaking he introduces again to us
nought strange or unwonted, seeing that the Divine Scrip-
ture ofttimes calls the whole creature by the name of flesh
alone, as in the prophet Joel : I will pour out My Spirit upon
all flesh. And we do not suppose that the Prophet says that
that the Divine Spirit should be bestowed upon human flesh
soul-less and alone (for this would be by no means free from
absurdity) : but comprehending the whole by the part, he
names man from the flesh : for thus it was right and not
otherwise. And why, it is needful I suppose to say.
Man then is a creature rational, but composite, of soul that
is and of this perishable and earthly flesh. And when it
had been made by God, and was brought into being, not
having of its own nature incorruption and imperishableness
(for these things appertain essentially to God Alone), it was
sealed with the spirit of life, by participation with the Divi-
Gen. ii. 7. nity gaining the good that is above nature (for He breathed,
it says, into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a
living soul) . But when he was being punished for his trans-
lb. Hi. 19. gressions, then with justice hearing Dust thou art and unto
dust shalt thou return, he was bared of the grace ; the
breath of life, that is the Spirit of Him Who says I am the
Life, departed from the earthy body and the creature falls
giving of His own life to our flesh.
109
&
ft
i%
Tepov
I
into death, through the flesh alone, the soul being kept in CHAP.ix.
immortality, since to the flesh too alone was it said, Dust
thou art and unto dust shalt thou return. It needed there-
fore that that in us which was specially imperilled, should
with the greater zeal 9 be restored, and by intertwining 9 i°n & -
again with Life That is by Nature be recalled to immor-
tality : it needed that at length the sentence. Dust thou
art and unto dust shalt thou return should be relaxed, the
fallen body being united ineffably to the Word That quick-
eneth all things. For it needed that becoming His Flesh,
it should partake of the immortality that is from Him. For
it were a thing most absurd, that fire should have the
power of infusing into wood the perceptible quality of its in-
herent power and of all but transfashioning into itself the
things wherein it is by participation, and that we should not
fully hold that the Word of God Which is over all, would in-
work in the flesh His own Good, that is Life.
For this reason specially I suppose it was that the holy
Evangelist, indicating the creature specially from the part
affected, says .that the Word of God became Flesh, that so we
might see at once the wound and the medicine, the sick and
the Physician, that which had fallen unto death and Him
Who raised it unto life, that which was overcome of corrup-
tion and Him Who chased away the corruption, that which
was holden of death and Him Who is superior to death, that
which was bereft of life and the Giver of life.
But he says not that the Word came into flesh but that
It was made Flesh, that you may not suppose that He came
to it as in the case of the Prophets or other of the Saints
by participation, but did Himself become actual Flesh, that is
man : for so we just now said. Wherefore He is also God by
Nature in Flesh and with Flesh, as having it His own, and con-
ceived of as being Other than it, and worshipped in it and with
it, according to what is written in the prophet Isaiah, Men Isa. xlv.
of stature shall come over unto thee and they shall be thine : LXX.
they shall come after thee; in chains they shall come over
and they shall fall down unto thee, they shall make sup-
plication unto thee, for God is in thee, and there is no God
31
l^-
SI:
110
God the Son made Flesh a new
Book I. beside thee. Lo they say that God is in Him, not severing
'the Flesh from the Word; and again they affirm that
there is none other God save He, uniting to the Word
that which He bears about Him, as His very own, that is
the temple of the Virgin : for He is One Christ of Both.
J.'l
li
H : i
I « ! '.
i ; i>
And dwelt among us.
The Evangelist profitably goes over again what he has
said, and brings the force of the thought to a clearer com-
prehension. For since he said that the Word of God was
made Flesh, lest any out of much ignorance should imagine
that He forsook His own Nature, and was in truth changed
into flesh, and suffered, which were impossible (for the
Godhead is far removed from all. variableness and change
into ought else as to mode of being) : the Divine exceeding
well added straightway And dwelt among us, that consider-
ing that the things mentioned are two, the Dweller and
that wherein is the dwelling, you might not suppose
that He is transformed into flesh, but rather that He dwelt
in Flesh, using His own Body, the Temple that is from the
Col. ii. 9. Holy Virgin. For in Him dwelt all the fulness of the God-
head bodily, as Paul saith.
But profitably does he affirm that the Word dwelt in us,
unveiling to us this deep Mystery also : for we were all in
Christ, and the community of human nature mounteth up
unto His Person; since therefore was He named the last Adam,
giving richly to the common nature all things that belong
to joy and glory, even as the first Adam what pertained to
corruption and dejection. The Word then dwelt in all
Rom. i. 4. through one that the One being declared the Son of God
with jpoiver according to the Spirit of holiness, the dignity
might come unto all the human nature and thus because of
Ps. One of us, I have said Ye are gods and all of you are children
xxxn. . Q j ^ e jfiQgj. jiigfo might come to us also. Therefore in
Christ verily is the bond made free, mounting up unto mys-
Phil. H.7. tic union with Him Who bare the form of the servant ; yet in
us after the likeness of the One because of the relation after
Heb. ii. the flesh. For why doth He take on Him not the nature of
16, 17. J
I Cor. xv
45.
first-fruit to the whole human nature.
Ill
ana els but the seed of Abraham, whence in all things it be- Chap. ix.
. . . cap. i. 14.
hoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, and to become
in truth Man ? Is it not clear to all, that He descended
unto the condition of bondage, not Himself giving thereby
ought to Himself, but bestowing Himself on us, that we through 2 Cor. viii.
His Poverty might be rich, and, soaring up through likeness
to Him unto His own special good, might be made gods and
children of God through faith ? For He Who is by Nature
Son and God dwelt in us, wherefore in His Spirit do we cry Rom. viii.
Abba Father. And the Word dwells in One Temple taken
for our sakes and of us, as in all, in order that having all in
Himself, He might reconcile all in one body unto the Father, E P h - »•
as Paul saith.
And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only -he gotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth.
Having said that the Word was made Flesh, that is Man,
and having brought Him down to brotherhood with things
made and in bondage, he preserves even thus His Divine
dignity intact and shews Him again full of the own Nature
of the Father inherent to Him. For the Divine Nature has
truly stability in Itself, not enduring to suffer change to ought
else, but rather always unvarying and abiding in Its own En-
dowments. Hence even though the Evangelist says that the
Word was made Flesh, he yet affirms that It was not overcome
by the infirmities of the flesh, nor fell from Its pristine Might
and Glory, when It clad Itself in our frail and inglorious body.
For we saw, he says, His Glory surpassing that of others,
and such as one may confess befits the Only-Begotten Son
of God the Father : for full was He of grace and truth.
For if one looks at the choir of the saints and measures the
things that are wondrously achieved by each, one will
with reason marvel and be delighted at the good things that
belong to each and will surely say that they are filled with
glory from God. But the Divines and witnesses say
that they have seen the glory and grace of the Only-Begotten,
not competing with that of the rest, but very far surpassing
it and mounting up by incomparable excellencies, having no
measured grace, as though another gave it, but perfect and
112 God the Son works as God, the rest as servants.
I i
! ' I '
n \
Book I.
cap.L 15
1 ISllifjLO-
ros
2 yvfjcrioi
Heb. iii.
6.
Ps. cxviii,
26.
Jer. vii.
25.
Infra x.
37, 38.
S. Luke
ii. 52.
true as in the Perfect, that is, not imported nor supplied
from without in the way of accession, but essentially in-
existent, and the fruit of the Father's essential Property l
passing Naturally to the Son "Who is of Him.
And if it seem good to any to test more largely what has
been said, let him consider with himself both the deeds that
are wonderfully done by each of the saints and those of our
Saviour Christ and he will find the difference as great as we
have just said. And there is this besides ; — they are true 2
servants about the house, He as a Son over his own house.
And the Divine Scripture says of the Only-Begotten
Blessed be he that cometh in the Name of the Lord, but of the
saints God the Father says, I have even sent unto you all my
servants the prophets. And the one were recipients of the
grace from above, the other as Lord of Hosts says, If I do
not the works of My Father, believe Me not : but if I do,
though ye believe not Me, believe My works. If then the
Only-Begotten is seen by the very works to be as great in
power as the Father, He will conformably be celebrated by
equal honours, as the Doer of equal works, and will surely
as much surpass, even when in the Flesh, those who have
been called unto brotherhood, as God by Nature overleaps
the limits of men, and the Very Son the sons by adoption.
But since it is written in the blessed Luke, And Jesus
increased in wisdom and grace, we must observe here that
the Spirit-clad said that the Son hath His glory full of grace.
Whither then will that which is full advance, or what ad-
dition will that at all admit, beyond which there is nought ?
Hence He is said to increase, not in that He is Word and
God, but because He ever more greatly marvelled at, ap-
peared more full of grace to those who saw Him, through
His achievements, the disposition of those who marvelled
advancing, as is more true to say, in grace, than He Who is
Perfect as God. Be these things then spoken for profit,
though they be somewhat discursive.
15 John bare witness of Him and cried.
The most wise Evangelist follows again the course of his
The two witnesses to our Lord.
113
II
thoughts and makes the sequel duly correspondent to what CHAP.ix.
preceded. For when he said of the Son of God, we beheld Supra
His Glory, the Glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father,
that he might not appear to alone say this (the word we have
seen not suiting a single person) , he joins with himself his
namesake witness, having one and the same piety with him-
self. I then, says he, bear witness (for I have beheld what
I said), and the Baptist likewise bears witness. A most
weighty pair of Spirit-clad, and a notable pair of men fos-
ter-brothers in truth and unknowing how to lie.
But see how exceeding forcible he made his declaration.
For he not only says that John bears witness of Him, but
profitably adds and cried, taking his proof from the words
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, and this too Is. xl. 3.
exceeding well. For it was possible that some of the op-
ponents might say, When did the Baptist witness to the Only-
Begotten or to whom did he impart the things regard- s
ing Him ? He cried then, says he, that is, not in a
corner does he utter them, not gently and in secret does he
bear witness : you may hear him crying aloud more clear
than a trumpet, (not you alone hearing these things,) wide-
spread and to all is his speech, glorious the herald, remark-,
able the voice, great and not unknown the Forerunner.
This was He of Whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred
[has become ] before me, for He was before me.
Having named the witness same-minded and same-named
with himself, and having shewn that he used a great voice
for the service of his preaching, he profitably adds the mode
too of his testimony : for it is in this in particular that the
whole question lies. What then do we find the great John
crying regarding the Only-Begotten ? He that cometh after
me has become before me for He was before me. Deep is the
saying and one that demands keen search into its meaning.
For the obvious and received meaning is thus : As far as
belongs to the time of the Birth according to the Flesh, the
Baptist preceded the Saviour, and Emmanuel clearly fol-
lowed and came after by six whole months, as the blessed
VOL. I. I
114
How to understand, He that cometh
3 Oetcpyj
jJL&TWV
■i ; i
Book l Luke related. Some suppose that John said this, that it may-
be understood thus, He that cometh after me, in point of
age, is preferred before me. But he who fixes a keener
eye on the Divine thoughts 3 may see, in the first place,
that this view introduces us to futile ideas and carries
us far from the needful subject of consideration. For the
holy Baptist is introduced as a witness, not in order to shew
that Christ was once later, then again earlier in the time of
Supra ver. £Q g B| r th, but as a co- witness of His Qlory, the Glory as of
the Only -Begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.
What meaning then can one give to such unseasonably in-
troduced explanations as these ? or how can one give us any-
clear interpretation, by understanding of time the words be-
fore us, He That cometh after me became before me ? For be
it laid down beyond a doubt that the Lord came after the Bap-
tist,- as being second to him in time according to the Flesh :
* how will He be also before him, I mean in time ? for due
order and sequence call us to this sense analogously to what
preceded. But I think that it is evident to every one, that
this is an impossibility. For that which cometh short of
anything in point of time will never have the start of its
leader. Hence it is a thing utterly senseless and altogether
past belief, to imagine that the holy Baptist said of time after
the Flesh,. He that cometh after me has become before me.
But understanding it rather in accordance with the line of
thought that preceded, we will believe that it was said in
some such sense as this. The blessed Baptist meetly car-
ries up his mode of speaking from a customary phrase to its
spiritual import, and advances as it were from an image drawn
from our affairs to the exposition of subtler thoughts.
For that which leads is ever considered to be more glori-
ous than those which are said to follow, and things which
succeed yield the palm to those that precede them. As for
example, he who is a skilled worker in brass, or carpenter,
or weaver, takes the lead and has superiority over him
who is conceived as following by being a learner and advan-
cing to perfect knowledge. But when such an one has sur-
passed the skill of his teacher and leaving that behind attains
iz
after me has become before me.
115
*>
\\
to something superior, I deem that he who is surpassed Chap. ix.
may not unfitly say of his outstripping pupil, He that cometh
after me, has become before me.
Transferring then after this sort the force of our idea to
our Saviour Christ and the holy Baptist, you will rightly
understand it. Take now the account of each from the be-
ginning. The Baptist was being admired by all, he Was
making many disciples, a great multitude of those who came
for Baptism was always surrounding him: Christ, albeit
superior, was unknown, they knew not that He was Very
God. Since then He was unknown, while the Baptist was
admired, He seemed I suppose to fall short of him; He came
a little after him who had still the higher position in honour
and glory from men. But He That cometh after has become
before, being shewn to be greater and superior to John. For
the One was at length revealed by His works to be God, the
other not surpassing the measure of human nature, is found
at last to have become after.
Hence the blessed Baptist said darkly, He that cometh after
me has become before me, instead of, He who was once behind
me in honour, is beheld to be more glorious, and surpasses by
incomparable excellencies the measure that befits and belongs
to me. Thus understanding the words, we shall find him a
witness of the Glory of the Only-Begotten and not an unsea-
sonable setter forth of useless things. For his saying that
Christ is greater than himself who has a great reputation
for holiness, what else is it than witnessing to His especial
glory ?
For He was before me.
Having said that He has become before me, he needfully
adds, For He ivas before me, ascribing to Him glory most
ancient, and affirming that the precedence of all things ac-
crued not to Him in time, but is inherent in Him from the
beginning as God by Nature. For He was before me> says
he, instead of, Always and every -way superior and more
glorious. And by His being compared with one among
things originate, the judgment against all is concentrated in
i2
&st
'.*
116 All that we have a gift from the Son's fulness.
Book I. behalf of Him Who is above all. For we do not contemplate
caj'. i. 1G. ...-,.
the great and glorious dignity of the Son as consisting m this
alone that He surpassed the glory of John, but in His surpass-
ing every originate essence.
16 And of His fulness have all we received.
* . The Evangelist in these words accepts the true testimony
of the Baptist, and makes clear the proof of the superiority of
our Saviour, and of His possessing essentially the surpass-
ing every thing originate, both in respect of glory itself
(whereof he is now more especially speaking) and of the bright
catalogue of all the other good things.
For most excellently, says he, and most truly does the
Baptist appear to me to say of the Only-Begotten, For He
was before me, that is far surpassing and superior. For all
we too, who have been enrolled in the choir of the saints, enjoy
the riches of His proper good, and the nature of man is en-
nobled with His rather than its own excellences, when it is
found to have ought that is noble. For from the fulness of
the Son, as from a perennial fountain, the gift of the Divine
graces springing forth comes to each soul that is found
worthy to receive it. But if the Son supplies as of His Natu-
ral fulness, the creature is supplied : — how will He not be con-
ceived of as having glory not similar to the rest, but such as
will beseem the Only-Begotten of God, having the superiority
over all as the fruit of His own Nature, and the pre-eminence
as the Dignity of His Father's Being ? And I think that the
most wise Paul too when defining as to the nature of all
things, was moved thereby to true ideas, so as hence at length
to address the creature, For what hast thou that thou didst not
receive ? For together with being, the well-being after such
and such wise, is God's gift to the creature, and it has nothing
of its own, but becomes rich only with the munificence of Him
Who gives to it. But we must note again that he says that
the Son is full, that is, All-perfect in all things, and so greatly
removed from being lacking in anything whatever, that He
can bestow even on all, refusing diminution, and preserving
the greatness of His own excellence always the same.
1 Cc
8. John the Baptist confessed his Lord's superiority. 117
17 And grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but Chap. ix.
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. '.' '
Having said that the glory of the Only -Begotten was
found more brilliant than any fame among men, and intro-
ducing the greatness in holiness incomparable above all saints
that is in Him, he studies to prove this from those who
have mounted up to the height of virtue. Of John then the
Saviour saith, Verily I say unto you, Among them that are s : Matt -
horn of women there hath not risen a greater than John the
Baptist. But this so great and exalted man, he brought
forward but now, as himself says, crying and saying with a
loud voice, He that cometh after me is preferred before me for Supraver.
He was before me. But since John's glory was inferior and
gave place to the Only-Begotten, how must one not needs sup-
pose that no one of the saints besides is brought up to equal
measure with the Saviour Christ in regard of the glory which
appears in the splendour of their actions ? The Saints then
that lived at the time of the Advent, not being able to sur-
pass the virtue of John, nor mounting up to the measure
that accrued to him, will with him yield the victor's palm to
Christ, if the blessed Baptist gaining the highest summit in
what is good, and having failed in no manner of excellence,
receives not through the voice of another the judgment of
inferiority to Him, but himself sealed it against himself, speak-
ing, as a saint, truly. But since it was necessary that Em-
manuel should be shewn to be greater and better than the saints
of old, needs does the blessed Evangelist come to the hiero-
phant Moses first : to whom it was said bv God, I know thee Exod.
J xxxiii. 12
before all and thou didst find grace in My sight. For that he
was known before all to God, we shall know by this again : If, Num. xii.
he says, there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make
Myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in
a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all
Mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even ap-
parently and not in dark speeches. The all-wise Moses having
therefore so great excellency above the elder saints, he
shews that the Only -Begotten is in everyway superior and of
more renown, that He might be shewn in all things to have Col. i, 18.
118
Cod tlie Son's gifts contrasted
I'i
Book I.
c.i.16,17.
Supra ver.
15.
lb. 16.
Gal. iii.
22.
Infra xii.
47.
the 'pre-eminence, as Paul saith : and therefore he says,
And grace for grace, for the law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ : for I think that
the blessed Evanglist would indicate something of this kind :
The great Baptist, he says, made true confession declaring
openly respecting the Only-Begotten, He that cometh after
me is preferred before me, for He was before me, for of His
fulness have all we received. And let no one suppose that
the Only-Begotten surpasses John or the rest of the saints
who belonged to the times of the Advent, but came short
of the glory of the elder saints, who were illustrious in
holiness in the times before the Advent; for he will see Him,
says he, far surpassing the measure of Moses, although he
possessed the superiority in holiness as compared with them ;
for the Lawgiver clearly affirmed that He knew him before
all. John then was convicted by his own mouth of coming
behind the glory of Christ : he comes short of His splen-
dour, and there is no question at all about him, or anything
to embarrass the finding out of the truth.
Whence then shall we find that the hierophant Moses
himself also came short of the glory of the Lord ? Let the
student, he says, diligently examine the evangelic grace given
to us by the Saviour, in contrast with the grace of the law
that was through Moses. For then will he see that the
Son was as much superior, as He is proved to be the Lawgiver
of better things than the polity of the law and introducing
things superior to all those which were through Moses.
For the law, he says, was given through Moses, grace and
truth came by Jesus Christ. What then is the distinction
between the law and the grace that comes through the Savi-
our, let him again see who is fond of search and an ally of
good labours; we will say a little out of much, believing
that boundless and vast is the number of the thoughts
thereto belonging. The Law therefore was condemning the
world (for God through it concluded all under sin, as Paul
saith) and shewing us subject to punishments, but the Savi-
our rather sets it free, for He came not to judge the world
but to save the world. And the Law too used to give grace
with those given of old through Moses.
119
to mln, calling them to the knowledge of God, and drawing
away from the worship of idols those who had been led
astray and in addition to this both pointing out evil and
teaching good, if not perfectly, yet in the manner of a
teacher and usefully : but the truth and grace which are
through the Only-Begotten, does not introduce to us the
good which is in types, nor limn things profitable as in
shadow, but in glorious and most pure ordinances leads us
by the hand unto even perfect knowledge of the faith. And
the Law used to give the spirit of bondage to fear, but Christ
the spirit of adoption unto liberty. The Law likewise brings
in the circumcision in the flesh which is nothing (for cir-
cumcision is nothing, as Paul writes to certain) : but our Lord
Jesus Christ is the Giver of circumcision in the spirit and
heart. The Law baptizes the defiled with mere water : the
Saviour with the Holy Ghost and with fire. The Law brings
in the tabernacle, for a figure of the true : the Saviour bears
up to Heaven itself and brings into the truer tabernacle,
which the Lord pitched and not man. And it were not hard
to heap up other proofs besides, but we must respect our
limits.
But we will say this for profit and need. The blessed
Paul in few words solved the question, saying of the law
and of the Saviour's grace, For if the ministration of condem-
nation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteous-
ness exceed in glory. For he says that the commandment
by Moses is the ministration of condemnation; the grace
through the Saviour, he calls the ministration of righteous-
ness, to which he gives to surpass in glory, most perfectly
examining the nature of things, as being clad with the Spirit.
Since then the Law which condemns iv as given by Moses, the
grace which justifies came by the Only-Begotten, how is not
He, he says, superior in glory, through Whom the better
things were ordained ? The Psalmist then will also be true,
crying aloud in the Spirit that our Lord Jesus Christ sur-
passes the whole illustrious multitude of the saints. For
who, he says, among the clouds shall be made equal unto the
Lord ? or who shall be likened unto the Lord among the sons
Chap. ix.
c.i.16,17.
Rom. viii.
15.
1 Cor. vii.
19.
Rom. ii.
29.
S. Matt,
iii. 11.
Heb. ix.
24.
lb. viii. 2.
2 Cor. iii.
9.
Ps.
lxxxix.
LXX
Book I.
c.i.16,17.
Exod.
xxxiii. 12.
LXX.
S. Matt,
xi. 11.
Supra ver,
14.
t i ■«
120 Christ's glory that of God, the saints' that of men.
of God ? For the spiritual clouds, that is the holy Projfhets,
will yield the palm to Christ, and will never think that they
ought to aim at equal glory^with Him, when he who was
above all men known of God, Moses, is brought down to the
second place : and they who were called sons of God at the
time of the Advent, will not be wholly likened to Him Who
is by Nature Son, but will acknowledge their own measure,
when the holy Baptist says that he himself is far behind, of
whom He That knoweth the hearts says, Among them that
are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John
the Baptist. True therefore is the blessed Evangelist, say-
. ing that he has seen His glory, the glory as of the Only-
Begotten of the Father, that is, which beseems the Only-
Begotten Son of God the Father, and not rather those who
are called to brotherhood with Him, of whom He is First-
born.
ft !
: ,
CHAPTER X.
That the Only-Begotten is Alone by Nature the Son from the
Father, as being of Him and in Him.
18 No man hath seen God at any time; the Only-Begotten God*,
Which is in the Bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.
See again herein the vigilance of the Spirit-clad. He
was not ignorant that some would surely say, bitterly 1 search-
ing into the things which are spoken of the Only-Begotten :
You said, good sir, that you had beheld His Glory, the glory
as of the Only-Begotten of the Father : then when you ought
to unfold to us the explanation of this and to tell us some
thing God-befitting and due, you made your demonstration
from His superiority to Moses and to the measure of John,
as though one could not in any other way see His Glory,
although the blessed Prophet Isaiah says, I saiv 'the Lord
sitting upon a throne high and lifted up and His train filled
the temple. Above it stood the Seraphim, each one had six
wings, with twain he covered his face and with twain he covered
his feet and with twain he did fly ; and one cried unto another
and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts ; the whole
earth is full of His glory : Bzekiel again cried openly to us
that he both saw the Cherubim, having a firmament like a
sapphire resting upon their heads, and upon a throne like-
wise the Lord of Hosts : his words are these, And there
was a voice, says he, from the firmament that was over their
heads, and above the firmament that was over their heads was
the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone :
and upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the ap-
pearance of a man above upon it : and I saw as the colour of
a "The Only-Begotten God." So andrine family and the Codex Sinaiticus
read the uncial MSS. BCL of the Alexi and so S. Cyril here.
1 irtKpSrt-
pov
Supra
ver. 14.
Isa. vi.
1-3.
Ezek. i.
25, 26-28.
122 The Unseen God how said to have been seen.
Book I.
cap. i. 18.
H :
Exod.
xxxiii. 20
Infra vi.
46.
Isa. vi. 1.
Ezek. i.
28.
T€TO
Supra
ver. 14.
Wisdom
xiii. 5.
Ps. xix. 1
amber, from the appearance of his loins even upwards and
from the appearance of his loins even downwards, I saw as it
were the appearance of fire and it had brightness round about,
as the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of
rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about.
This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the
Lord.
Since therefore it was not unlikely that not a few of the
more unlearned would say some such things to us, needs
does the blessed Evangelist hasten to cut short their at-
tempts, saying, No man hath seen God at any time ; for the
Only -Begotten Himself being God, Which is in the bosom of
God the Father, made this declaration to us, saying most
clearly to the hierophant Moses, There shall no man
see My Face and live : and sometime to His own disciples,
Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He Which is of
God, He hath seen the Father. For to the Son Alone That
is by Nature is the Father visible and that in such wise
as one may think 2 that the Divine Nature Divinely sees and
is seen, and to none other of things which are. Yet will the
speech of the holy Prophets in no way be false when they
cry aloud that they saw the Lord of Hosts : for they do not
affirm that they saw that very essential Thing that the Na-
ture of God is, but they themselves too openly cry out, This
is the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of the Loed.
Therefore the fashion of the Divine Glory was darkly formed 3
out of things such as are ours, and was rather a likeness giving
things Divine as it were in a picture, while the truth of them
mounts up to excellence above mind and speech. Most ex-
cellently then does the most wise Evangelist saying, And we
beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Fa-
ther, full of grace and truth, bring in the demonstration
thereof from His superiority to all. For like as from the
beauty of the creatures proportionably is the Power of the
Creator of all beheld, and the heavens without voice declare
the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handywork :
so again will the Only-Begotten be proved superior in Glory
and more resplendent, surpassing apprehension, as regards the
'Mr
God the Son in the Father and from the Father. 123
power of the eye, as God; and wherein He surpasses the crea- Chap. X.
ture, therein deemed of and glorified as being above it. Such
thought then and no other I deem that the words now before us
are replete with. But we must note again that he both calls
the Son Only -Begotten God, and says that He is in the Bo-
som of the Father, that He may be shewn again to be outside of
any connaturality with the creature and to have His own
proper 4 Being of the Father and in the Father. For if He 4 ISidfrv-
is verily Only-Begotten God, how is He not Other in nature
than they who are by adoption gods and sons ? For the
Only-Begotten will be conceived of not among many bre-
thren, but as the Only one from the Father. But since,
while there are as Paul saith many who are are called gods
in heaven and earth, the Son is Only-Begotten God, He will
clearly be outside of the rest and will not be reckoned among
those who are gods by grace, but will rather be Very God
with the Father. For so does Paul conjoin Him, saying
to us, But to us One God the Father of Whom are all things,
and One Lord Jesus Christ by Whom are all things. For
the Father being by Nature One God, the Word That is of
Him and in Him will not remain external from being God,
eminent in the ownness 5 of Him Who begat Him, and ascend-
ing essentially to equal Dignity, because He is by Nature
God.
Therefore does he say that He is in the Bosom of the Fa-
ther, that you may again conceive His being in Him and of
Him 6 according to what is said in the Psalms : From the
womb before the day-star begat I Thee. For as here he puts
From the womb, because of His being of Him and that
really 7 , from likeness of things belonging to us (for
things born of men proceed from the womb) ; so too when he
says in the bosom, he would plainly shew the Son all but in
the womb of the Father which begat Him forth 8 , (as it were in
some Divine gleaming forth and unspeakable forth-come 9
unto His - own Person 10 ), but which yet possessesHim, since not
by cutting away x or division after the flesh, did the Divine
Offspring come forth 2 of the Father. And indeed the Son
somewhere says that He is in the Father and has again theFa-
1 Cor.viii.
6.
5 ISi6t7]TI
5 rb ivav-
avrov
Ps. ex. 3.
LXX.
7 yvriclais
B €K<j>a.VTl-
kccs
9 TTpo6S(f}
10 vTr6(rra-
aiv
1 airoKo-
2 irpotKv-
*« .
Infra xiv.
10.
124
TJie Bosom of the Father, the Intimate
m
II'-
' i (/ !
1 Cor.viii
12, 11.
4 cupvAa-
KTWS
Book. I . ther in Him. For the very own of the Father's Essence passing
» rb ya P * essentially' 3 into the Son, shews the Father in Him, and the
i0V &v<ri- Father again has the Son rooted in Himself in exact sameness
kws Strj- of Essence and begotten of Him, yet not by division or inter-
val of place, but inherent and ever co-existing ; thus rather
shall we piously understand that the Son is in the Bosom of
the Father? not as some of 'those who are wont to fight
( Rom. iii. against God have taken it, whose damnation is just : for they
Mic. iii. pervert all equity, as the Prophet says, undoing the ears of
the simpler ones and sinning without heed* against the
brethren, for whom Christ died.
What it is then that these both think and say and try to
teach others, we must needs say. When the holy Evangelist
says that the Son is in the Bosom of God the Father, and the
children of the Church think rightly, and affirm that He is
therefore of the Father and in the Father, and contend and
that aright, that the true mode of Generation must be pre-
served ; straightway they that are drunk with all unlearning
laugh outright and even dare to say : Your opinion, sirs, is
all nonsense : for not well-instructedly do ye think of God,
deeming that because the Son is said to be in the Bosom of
the Father, He is therefore wholly of His Essence, and
foolishly imagining that He is the Fruit of the Inoriginate
Nature. For have ye not heard, say they, in the Gospel
parables, when Christ Himself was discoursing of the Rich
man and Lazarus, that it came to pass that Lazarus died and
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom ? will ye
then grant, because Lazarus was in the bosom of Abraham,
that therefore he is of him and in him by nature, or will ye
not rightly refuse to say this, and yourselves too with us
allow that love is meant by the " bosom" ? we say therefore
that the Son is in the Bosom of God the Father, instead of
S. Luke
xvi. 22.
Infra iii. in His love, as Himself also says, The Father loveth the Son.
But when the fault-finders hit us with these words, though
they be zealous to nought but railing, then we too will an-
swer them, arraying against them the right word of the
truth : The bosom, good sirs, according to you means love :
Infra m. f or thi s we j us ^ now near d you say. Shall we then, since God
Oneness with Him of God the Son.
125
loved the world, as the Saviour saith, and The Lord, lov- Chap, X.
• • CAP. 1.18.
eth the gates of Sion } according to the holy Psalmist, fear- Ps.
lessly say that both the world itself and the gates of Sion
are in the bosom of God the Father ? And when He says
too to the hierophant Moses, Put thine hand into thy bosom, Exod. iv.
does He bid him, tell me, love his hand and not rather keep
it hidden ? Then how shall we not incur great laughter
hereby, yea rather how shall we not behave with impiety to-
wards the Father Himself, if we say that all things are in
His Bosom, and make that common to the rest which is the
special prerogative of the Only-Begotten, in order that the
Son may have nought above the creature ?
Hence bidding good bye to their ill-counsel, we will go
on the straight road of thoughts of the Truth, when the Son
is said to be in the Bosom of the Father, conceiving of Him as
of Him and in Him : and accurately taking in the force of the
thought, we shall find it thus and not otherwise. The Onlij-
Begotten Qod, he says, Which is in the Bosom of the Father,
He hath declared. For when he said Only-Begotten and God,
he straightway says, Which is in the Bosom of the Father,
that He may be conceived of as Son of Him and in Him Na-
turally, saying Bosom of the Father instead of Essence, as by
corporeal simile. For things manifest are types of things
spiritual, and things among us lead us by the hand to the
apprehension of the things which are above us : and the
corporal things are often taken in the way of image and in-
troduce to us the apprehension of subtler thoughts, even
though they be in their proper time understood as they were
uttered, as I mean that to Moses, Put thine hand into thy
bosom. And it will no way hurt our argument to say that
Lazarus was laid in Abraham's bosom, but will aid it rather
and will go along with our thoughts. For the Divine Scrip-
ture says so to speak thus : Lazarus having died and deceased
from his life in the body, was carried into Abraham's bosom,
instead of "was numbered among Abraham's children." For
"I have made thee a father of many nations," said God to
him, for so is it somewhere written of him, For a father qf9 en - xvn -
many nations have I made thee.
126
8. John Baptist's testimony.
Book I.
c.i. 19^21
Supra
ver. (5, 7.
lb. 8.
lb. 20.
Rom. i.
22.
.1 .
' 1
_ i '
j
4
!
i •
i
■ J
i
i
■i
5 &s if
Tlp0<p7]T0V
ra|ei
Deut.
xviii. 15,
16.
Isa. xl.3:
S. Matt.
iii. 3.
19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests
20 and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou ? And
he confessed and denied not ; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
The Evangelist recalls his own words and endeavours to
explain to us more fully (doing exceeding well) what he had
already told us told us briefly as in summary. For having said
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John : the
same came for a ivitness, to bear witness of the Light, needs
does he bring in the mode also of the witness given by him.
For when, he says, the chiefs of the Jewish divisions after
the Law, sent priests and Levites to him, bidding them ask him,
what he would say of himself, then very clearly did he confess,
spurning all shame for the truth's sake. For he said, I am
not the Christ. Therefore neither do I, says he, the compiler
of this Book, lie saying of him, He was not the Light but to
bear witness of the Light.
21 And they asked him, What then ? Art thou Elias ?and he saith,
I am not. Art thou that Prophet ? And he answered, No.
Having said by way of explanation, he confessed, I am not
the Christ ; he tries to shew how or in what manner the con-
fession was made; and he appears to me to wish thereby to lay
bare the ill-instructedness of the Jews. For professing them-
selves to be wise they became fools, and puffed up at their know-
ledge of the Law, and ever putting forward the command-
ments of Moses and asserting that they were perfectly
instructed in the words of the holy Prophets, by their foolish
questions they are convicted of being wholly uninstructed.
For the hierophant Moses saying that the Lord should be
revealed as a Prophet 5 foretold to the children of Israel, The
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Propliet from the midst
of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, unto Him shall ye hearken;
according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in
Horeb* The blessed Isaiah, introducing to us the fore-
runner and fore-messenger, says, The voice of one crying in
the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths
straight : and in addition to these the Prophet Joel b says of
b Joel. S. Cyril quotes apparently from memory.
Prophecies of Christ.
127
the Tishbite (he was Elias) Behold, I send you Elijah the
Tishbite c who shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, lest I come and
smite the earth with a curse.
There being then three, who were promised should come,
Christ and John and Elias, the Jews expect that more will
come, that they may rightly hear, Ye do err not knowing the
Scriptures. For when they enquired of the blessed Baptist
and learned that he was not the Christ, they answer, What
then ? art thou Elias ? and on his saying I am not, when they
ought to have asked respecting the fore-runner (for he it was
that remained) they ignorantly return to Christ Himself, Who
was revealed through the Law as a Prophet. For see what
they say, not knowing what was told them through Moses, Art
thou the Prophet ? and he answered, No. For he was not
the Christ, as he had already before declared.
Chap. X.
c.i.22,23.
Mai. iv.
5, 6.
S. Luke
i. 17.
S. Matt,
xxii. 29.
22 23 What say est thou of thyself ? /am the voice of one crying-
in the wilderness.
He accuses them sharply as knowing nothing, and ac-
credits the design or purpose entrusted to him by Prophetic
testimony. For I come, he says, to say nothing else than
that He, The Looked for, is at length at the doors, yea rather
the Lord within the doors. Be ye ready to go whatsoever
way He bids you, ye have gone the way given you through
Moses, take up that by Christ : for this the choir of the holy
Prophets foretold you.
A setting forth of sayings concerning the way that is after Christ.
Isaiah. Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Isa. ii. 3.
Loed, to the house of the God of Jacob, and He will teach us
of His ways and we will walk in His paths.
The same. And an highway shall be' there and a way, and ib. xxxv.
it shall be called The way of holiness ; no lion shall be there
nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, but the redeemed
shall walk there.
<= Tishbite LXX. " Prophet" Heb.
8,9.
128
The Pharisees pretending to honour
li ■;
M
'ill'!
,i i:!i
Book I.
cap. i. 24.
Isa. xli.
27.
LXX.
lb. xlii.
16.
Jer.vi.16.
The same. I will give beginning d to Sign, and will exhort
Jerusalem unto the way.
The same. And I will bring the blind by a way that they
knew not : I ivill lead them in paths that they have not
known.
Jeremiah. Stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the
old paths, where is the good way and walk therein, and ye
shall find rest for yoiw souls.
What then is the good way and that purifies those who
Infra xiv. wa lk m [t } l e t Christ Himself say : I am the Way.
24 And they had been sent from the Pharisees. e
They who were sent from the Jews (they were Levites and
certain of those who belonged to the priesthood) were con-
victed of asking foolish questions. For supposing that Christ
was one person, the Prophet declared by the Law another,
they said, after the holy Baptist had said, I am not the Christ,
Art thou the Prophet ? But lo, the multitude of the Pharisees
also is caught in conceit of wisdom 6 rather than having really
an accurate knowledge of the Divine oracles. For why, it says,
baptizest thou at all, if thou be not the Christ nor Elias neither
the Prophet? and they are shewn again to be full of no small
senselessness against the Baptist. For they do not, it seems,
vouchsafe to put him in the number of those expected, but
sick with the haughtiness that was their foster-sister f , they
deem that he is nought, albeit he be fore-announced by the
Prophet's voice. For though they heard, I am the voice of
one crying in the wilderness Prepare ye the way of the Lord :
receiving not his word, they rebuke him without restraint
saying after this sort : There is nought in thee, Sir, worthy
of credit, nor wondrous nor great : why baptizest thou even
at all ? why dost thou, who art absolutely nothing, take in
hand so great a thing ? It was the habit of the ungodly
Pharisees to act thus, to disparage one who was already
d apxh", " beginning " or " sove- jueVot in place of ol aiziffTaKfitvoi.
reignty"; vide supra p. 14. „* f r^v Se iavrots ffWTtdpa/j./j.4vriv
e So the uncial MSS. ABCL & the voaovvres a\a£ayeiav
Codex Sinuiticus read, giving an«TTa\-
Supra
ver. 20,21,
6 8oKT)(Tt-
<ro<bov<ra
Supra
ver.23;S,
Matt. iii.
3.
the coming, reject the come.
129
come, to pretend to honour one who was to come. For Chap. X.
in order that they might always procure for themselves CAF ' 1 ' '
honours at the hand of the Jews, and might procure to them-
selves incomes 7 of money, they desire that none save them- 7 ™p»-
selves should appear illustrious. For thus slew they the ^"^
heir Himself also, saying Come let us kill Him and let us s. Matt.
seize on His inheritance. xxi - 38,
26 / baptize with water.
Much enduringly 8 does the blessed Baptist bear with the
fault finders : and very seasonably does he make the declara-
tion regarding himself a basis of saving preaching : and
teaches those who were sent from the Pharisees now even
against their will that Christ was within the doors. For I, he
says, am bringing in an introductory 9 Baptism, washing those
defiled by sin with water for a beginning of penitence and
teaching them to go up from the lower unto the more per-
fect. For this were to accomplish in act, what I was sent to
preach, Prepare ye, I mean, the way of the Lord. For the
Giver of the greater and most notable gifts and Supplier of
all perfection of good things, standeth among you, unknown
as yet by reason of the veil of flesh, but so much surpassing
me the Baptist, that I must deem myself not to have the
measure even of a servant's place in His Presence. For
this I deem is the meaning of, I am not worthy to unloose
His shoe-latchet.
And in saying what is true, he works something else that
is useful, for he persuades the haughty Pharisee to think
lowlily, and brings himself in as an example of this.
But he says that these things were done in Bethabara Z>e-
yond Jordan, putting this too as a sign of accurate and care-
ful narration. For we are all accustomed, so to speak, in
our accounts of things that require it to mention also the
places where they happened.
8 'Avel-t-
k(£k<ws
9 iraiSa-
ywyiithv
Cyril Arch-Bishop of Alexandria on the Gospel according 1 to
John, Book I.
VOL. I.
CHAPTEES IN BOOK II.
Chapter 1. That the Holy Ghost is in the Son, not by participation,
nor from without, but Essentially and by Nature : on the words,
And John bare record, I saw the Spirit descending from Heaven
like a dove and It abode upon Him.
Chapter 2. That the Son is not in the number of things originate,
but above all, as God and of God, on the words, He that cometh
from above is above all.
Chapter 3. That the Son is God and of God by Nature, on the
words, He that hath received His testimony, hath set to his seal
that God is true.
Chapter 4. That not by participation are the Properties of God
the Father in the Son, but Essentially and by Nature, on the words,
The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His
Hand.
Chapter 5. That the Son is not in the number of worshippers, in
that He is Word and God, but rather is worshipped with the
Father, on the words, Ye worship ye know not what, we know
what we worship.
Chapter 6. That the Son is not inferior to the Father, either in
power, or in operation for any work, but is Equal in Might, and
Consubstantial with Him, as of Him and that by Nature, on the
words, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth
the Father do : for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth
the Son likewise.
Chapter 7« That nought of God-befitting dignities or excellences
is iu the Son, by participation, or from without, on the words,
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judg-
ment unto the Son.
Chapter 8. That the Son being God and of God by Nature, and
the Exact Image of Him Who begat Him, hath equal honour and
glory with Him, on the words, That all men should honour the
Son even as they honour the Father.
Chapter 9. That the Son is in nothing inferior to God the Father,
butis of Equal Might in operation as to all things, as God of God, on
the words, / can of Mine own Self do nothing : as I hear, I judge.
OUE FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS
CYRIL
Archbishop of Alexandria
ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.
BOOK II.
29 The newt day he seeth Jesus coming to him.
In a very little time, the Baptist is declared to be Prophet
alike and Apostle. For Whom he was heralding as coming,
Him now come he points out. Therefore, he bounded beyond
even the measure of prophets, as the Saviour Himself saith
when discoursing with the Jews concerning him, What went s. Matt.
ye out into the wilderness for to see ? A prophet, yea, I say xu 9 *
unto you and more than a prophet. For they in their times
prophesied that Christ should be revealed, but he, crying
that He shall come, also pointed Him out come. For the
next day, saith he, he seeth Jesus coming to him.
And saith, Behold the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of
the world.
No longer has prepare ye the way fit place, since He at
length is seen and is before the eyes for Whom the preparation
is made : the nature of the thing began to need other words.
It needed to explain, Who He is Who is come, and to whom
He maketh His descent Who hath come to us from Heaven.
Behold, therefore, saith he, the Lamb of God Which taketh
away the sin of the world, Whom the Prophet Isaiah did
signify to us, saying, He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, Isa. liii.
and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb : Whom of old, too,
saith he, the law of Moses typified, but then it saved In part,
not extending mercy to all (for it was a type and shadow) :
but now He Who of old was dimly pictured, the very Lamb,
the spotless Sacrifice, is led to the slaughter for all, that He
k 2
132 We in Christ, because human nature is one.
[J
■! j; i j
, Gen. iii
19. -
47.
2 Cor. v
14.
lb. 15.
Isa. xxv
8.
LXX.
Book 2. might drive away the sin of the ivorld, that He might overturn
" the destroyer of the earth, that dying for all He might bring
to nought death, that He might undo the curse that i$ upon
us, that He might at length end Dust thou art, and unto dust
shalt thou return, that He might become the second Adam,
1 Cor. xv. not of the earth, but from heaven, and might be the beginning
of all good to the nature of man, deliverance from the imported
corruption, Bestower of eternal life, foundation of our recon-
ciliation to God, beginning of godliness and righteousness,
way to the Kingdom of Heaven. For one Lamb died for all,
saving the whole flock on earth to God the Father, One for
all, that He might subject all to God, One for all, that He
might gain all : that at length all should not henceforth live to
themselves but to Him Which died for them and, rose again. For
since we were in many sins, and therefore due to death and
corruption, the Father hath given the Son a redemption for us,
One for all, since all are in Him, and He above all. One died
for all, that all should live in Him. For death having swal-
lowed up the Lamb for all, hath vomited forth all in Him
and with Him. For all we were in Christ, Who on account
of us and for us died and rose again. But sin being de-
stroyed, how could it be that death which was of it and because
of it should not altogether come to nothing ? The root dying,
how could the shoot yet survive ? wherefore should we yet
die, now that sin hath been destroyed ? therefore jubilant
55, from in the Sacrifice of the Lamb of God we say : death, where
14. ' ' is thy sting ? grave, where is thy victory ? For all iniquity,
4 |j CV1U as the Psalmist sings somewhere, shall stop her mouth, no
... longer able to accuse those who have sinned from infirmity.
Rom.viii.
33, 34. For it is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth ?
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us, that we might escape the curse from transgression.
30 This is He of Whom I said.
He leads the hearers to remembrance of his words, and
yields to Christ the superiority in glory, accomplishing the
work, not of love, but rather of truth and necessity. For
the creature is subject, even if it willeth not, to the Creator?
1 Cor. xv.
Gal
13.
..*
How 8. John Baptist knew not Clirist.
133
the bond to the Lord, the supplied to the Giver. But in what Book 2.
. CAP ' 01
manner Christ was after John, but preferred before him, for v "*" i •" i,
He was before him, as himself confesseth, we have spoken Supra pp.
sufficiently in what has preceded.
113 sqq.
31 And I knew Him not, but that He should be made manifest to
Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water.
He that leaped in the depth of the womb of his mother at the
voice of the Holy Virgin while yet bearing the Lord, prophet
before the travail-pang, disciple in the womb, says of the
Saviour, I knew Him not, and says truly, for he does not lie.
For God knows all things of Himself and untaught, but
the creature, by being taught. For the Spirit indwelling in
the Saints, fulfils what is lacking, and gives to human na-
ture His Own good, I mean, knowledge of things to come,
and of the hidden mysteries. Therefore the holy Baptist
saying that he does not know the Lord, will by no means
speak untruly, in regard of the property of human nature,
and the measure befitting the creature, but will attribute the
knowledge of all things to God Alone, Who through the Holy
Ghost enlighteneth man to the apprehension of hidden things.
And very profitably doth he say that of himself he knew not
Christ, but is come for that very purpose, to make Him ma-
nifest to Israel, that he may not seem to run of his own ac-
cord to bear testimony, nor be thought by any the minister
of his own will, but the worker of the Divine dispensation,
the minister of the Counsel from above revealing to him the
Lamb Which talceth away the sin of the world.
In order therefore that the Jews may the more easily come
to believe on our Saviour Christ, and may have the most
worthy conception of Him, he says that having not known Him,
he knows Him, that they may understand then at length God
Who revealed Him, and awestruck 1 at the judgment from l twovap-
above, may receive his word concerning Him, and, seeing the K * aavrs *
servant so great, may proportionally estimate the Dignity of
the Master. For his saying, that he was come to make
Him manifest to Israel, how does it not denote the care 2 be- " Qtpanil-
longing to a servant ? . *
rifi
i
n
%
1 &r«£ep-
ydfcrat
* .itXotu
y(Ad<ras
CHAPTER I.
That -the Holy Ghost is in the Son not by participation, not from
without, but Essentially and by Nature.
32 And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending
33 from Heaven like a dove, and It abode upon Him. And I knew
Him not : but He That sent me to baptize with water, the Same
said unto me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending
and remaining upon Him, the Same is He Which baptizeth with
the Holy Ghost.
- *.
Havbjg said above that lie knew Him not, he profitably
explains 1 and uncovers the Divine Mystery, both shewing
that He Who told him was God the Father, and clearly re-
lating the manner of the revelation. By all does he profit
the mind of the headers ; and whereby he says that the
Mystery of Christ to men- ward was taught him of God, he
shews that his opposers are fighting against the decree from
above, and to their own peril arraying themselves against the
aiighty purpose of the Father. For this was the part of one
skillfully persuading them to desist from their vain counsel,
and to receive Him Who by the goodwill of the Father came
for the salvation of all. He therefore testifieth, both that he
saw the Spirit descending from Heaven upon Him, in the form
of a Dove, and that It abode upon Him. Then besides, he
says that himself was the ear- witness of Him Who sent him to
baptize with water, that He upon Whom the Spirit came and
abode upon Him is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.
Most worthy of belief then the witness, supernatural the sign,
above all the Father Who revealed.
And these things are thus. But perchance the heretic fond
of carping will jump up, and with a big laugh 2 , say ; What
again, sirs, say ye to this too, or what argument will ye bring
The Son Perfect because the Father Perfect. 135
forth, wresting: that which is written ? Lo, he saith that the Chap. l.
c.i 3^ 33.
Spirit descendeth upon the Son; lo, He is anointed by God
the Father j That Which He hath not, He receives forsooth, the
Psalmist co-witnessing with us and saying, as to Him : Where- ^ s - xlv -
fore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness
above Thy felloivs. How then will the Son any more be
Consubstantial with the Perfect Father, not being Himself
Perfect, and therefore anointed ? To this then I think it
right to say to those who overturn the holy doctrines of the
Church, and pervert the truth of the Scriptures : Awake, ye Joel i. 5.
drunkards, from your wine, that viewing the clear beauty of
the truth, ye may be able with us to cry to the Son : Of a S. Matt.
truth Thou art the Son of God. For if thou fully believe that X1V "
He is by Nature God, how will He not have perfection ? For
time is it that ye now speak impiously against the Father
Himself also : for whence must He needs, as thou sayest, have
perfection ? how will He not be brought down to the abase-
ment of His Offspring, which according to you is imperfect,
in that the Divine Essence in the Son has once received the
power of not having Perfection, according to your unlearned
and uninstructed reasoning ? For we will not divide that Great
and Untaint Nature into different Words, so that it should
be imperfect perchance in one, and again Perfect in the other.
Since the definition of human nature too is one in respect of
all men, and equal in all of us, what man will be less, qua
man ? but neither will he be considered more so than another.
And I suppose that one angel will differ in nothing from ano-
ther angel in respect of their being what they are, angels to
wit, from sameness of nature 3 , being all linked with one ano- s 6/j.oeM-
ther unto one nature. How then can the Nature Which is Di- as
vine and surpassing all, shew Itself in a state inferior to things
originate in Its own special good, and endure a condition
which the creature cannot endure ? How will It be at all
simple and uncompounded, if Perfection and imperfection
appear in It ? For It will be compounded of both, since
Perfection is not of the same kind as imperfection. For if '
they be of the same kind, and there be no difference be-
tween them, every thing which is perfect will without dis-
136
The Son by Nature God and Perfect,
■l\<
■J If
liijj
"I
Book 2. tinction be also imperfect : and if ought again be imperfect, *
* ' ' ' this too will be perfect. And the charge against the Son
will be nought, even though according to your surmisings
He appear not Perfect : but neither will the Father Himself,
though witnessed to in respect of His Perfection, surpass the
Son, and there is an end of our dispute. But if much in-
terval severs imperfection from perfection, and the Divine
Nature admits both together, It is compound, and not
simple.
But perchance some one will say, that contraries are in-
compatible, and not co-existent in one subject at the same
time, as for instance in a body white and black skin to-
« yopyus gether. Well, my friend, and very bravely 4 hast thou
backed up my argument. For if the Divine Nature be One,
and there bo none other than It, how, tell me, will It admit of
contraries ? How will things unlike to one another come
together into one subject ? But since the Father is by Nature
God, the Son too is by Nature God. He will therefore in
nothing differ, in respect of being Perfect, from the Father,
since He is begotten of His Divine and most Perfect Essence.
For must not He needs be Perfect Who is of a Perfect
Heb. i. 3. Parent, since He is both His exact Likeness, and the express
Image of His Person, as it is written ? But every one will
I suppose consent and agree to this. Or let him come for-
ward and say, how the Son is the exact Image of the Per-
fect Father, not having Perfection in His Own Nature,
according to the uncounsel of some. For since He is the
Impress and Image, He is Himself too perfect as He,
Whose Image He is.
But, says one, John saw the Spirit descending from Hea-
ven upon the Son, and He has Sanctification from without, for
He receives it as not having it. Time then is it to call Him
openly a creature, barely honoured with a little excellence,
perfected and sanctified in equal rank with the rest, and hav-
ing His supply of good things an acquired one. Then how
Supra does the Evangelist not lie, wheu he says, Of His fulness
ver ' * have all ive received ? For how will He be full in His Own
Nature, Who Himself receiveth from Another ? Or how
lest the Father cease to be Father or Perfect. 137
will Grod be at all conceived of as Father if the Only- Chap. l.
Begotten is a creature, and not rather Son ? For if this be l " 1 "°*'
so, both Himself will be falsely called Father, and the Son
will not be Truth, having upon Him a spurious dignity, and
a title of bare words. The whole therefore will come to
nothing; the Father being neither truly father, nor the Son
this by Nature, which He is said to be. But if God be
truly Father, He surely has whereof He is Father, the
Son, that is, of 5 Himself. 6 H
Then how will the Godhead Holy by Nature beget that of
Itself which is void of holiness, and bring forth Its own
Fruit destitute of Its own inherent Properties 6 ? For if 6 «8«»/«*-
He hath sanctification from without, as they babbling say ; —
they must needs confess, even against their will, that He
Was not always holy, but became so afterwards, when the
Spirit descended upon Him, as John saith. How then
was the Son holy even before the Incarnation ? for so did
the Seraphim glorify Him, repeating the Holy, in order, isa. vi. 3.
from the first to the third time. If then He was holy, even
before the Incarnation, yea rather being ever with the Fa-
ther, how needed He a sanctifier, and this in the last times,
when He became Man ? I marvel how this too escapes
them, with all their love of research. For must we not needs
conceive, that the Son could at any time reject sanctifica-
tion, if it be not in Him essentially, but came to Him as it does
to us, or any other reasonable creature ? But that which
falls away from sanctification, will it not be altogether under
the bonds of sin, and sink to the worse, no longer retaining
power to be apart from vice ? Therefore neither will the
Son be found to be unchangeable, and the Psalmist will lie
crying in the Spirit as to Him, But Thou art the Same. Ps.cii.27.
Besides what has been already said, let this too be consi-
dered, for it brings in a kindred idea : All reasoning will
demonstrate that the partaken is somewhat other by nature
than the partaker. For if this be not true, but that shall |
in no wise differ from this, and is the same ; that which par-
takes of ought partakes of itself, which is incredible even to
think of (for how can any one be imagined to partake of P p. 61,67,
138
God the Son always Holy ; else exalted,
Book 2-
c.i.32,3S.
V>\
self?).
Phn.
5-8.
But if the things mentioned lie altogether in
natural diversity one to another, and the necessity of reason-
ing separates them, let them who give the Spirit by par-
ticipation to the Only-Begotten, see to what a depth of im-
piety they sink unawares. For if the Son is partaker of the
Spirit, and the Spirit is by Nature holy, He Himself will
not be by Nature holy, but is shewn to be hardly so through
combination with another, transelemented by grace to
the better, than that wherein He was at first. But let the
fighter against God again see, into how great impiety the
question casts him down. For first some change and turn-
ing, as we said before, will be found to exist respecting the
Son. And being according to you changed, and having ad-
vanced unto the better, He will be shewn to be not only not
inferior to the Father, but even somehow to have become
superior : and how this is, we will say, taking it from the Di-
vine Scripture. The divine Paul says somewhere of Him : Be
each among you so* minded, according to what was also in Christ
Jesus, Who 'being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be
equal with God, but emptied Himself, and took upon Him the
form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and
being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself.
Since then even before the Incarnation, He was in the form
and equality of the Father, but at the time of the Incarna-
tion receiving the Spirit from Heaven was sanctified, ac-
cording to them, and became by reason of this better alike
and greater than Himself, He surpasses at length it is plain
even the measure of His Father. And if on receiving the
Spirit He mounted up unto dignity above that of the Father,
then is the Spirit superior even to the Father Himself, seeing
that He bestows on the Son the superiority over Him. Who
then will not shudder at the mere hearing of this ? For
hard is it in truth even to go through such arguments, but
no otherwise can the harm of their stubbornness be driven
off. Therefore we will say again to them: If when the Word
of God became Man, He is then also sanctified by receiving
a S. Cyril reads Tovto <f>povure (or below and'Book 2. c. 5 ; 3. c. 4; 9. : ad
tppovdrw) tKOffros iv vjmv avrots, a little Herm. 404 E, 718 B ; de recta fide 141 B.
not lowered by the Incarnation.
139
the Spirit : but before the Incarnation was in the Form and Chap. l.
Equality of the Father, not yet according to them sanctified, '
time is it they should boldly say, that God the Father is not
holy, if the Word Who is in all things altogether Con-formal
and Equal to Him, was not holy in the beginning, but barely
in the last times became so. And again, if He is truly
the Word of God, Who receiveth the Spirit, and is sanc-
tified in His Own Nature, let our opponents say, whether
in doing this, He became greater or less than Himself, or
remained the Same. For if He hath nothing more from the
Spirit, but remaineth the same as He was, be not offended
at learning that It descended on Him. But if He was in-
jured by receiving It, and became less, you will introduce
to us the Word as passible, and will accuse the Essence of
the Father as wronging rather than sanctifying. But if He
became better by receiving the Spirit, but was in the Form
and Equality of the Father, even before, according to you,
He became bettered, the Father hath not attained unto the
height of glory, but will be in that measure of it, in which
the Son Who hath advanced to the better was Con-formal .
and Equal to Him. Convenient is it then, I deem, to say
to the ill-instructed heretics, Behold o foolish people and J e *.v.2l.
without understanding, which have eyes, and see not ; which
have ears and hear not ; for the god of this world hath indeed 2 Cor. iv.
blinded the eyes of them which believe not, lest the light of the
glorious gospel of Christ should shine unto them : worthy of
pity are they rather than of anger. For they understand
not, what they read.
But that the reasoning is true, will be clear from hence,
even if we have not, by our previous attempts, made the de- •
monstration perfectly clear. Again shall this that is spoken
by the mouth of Paul be brought forward : Be each among you, Phil- "•
saith he, so minded, according to what was also in Christ
Jesus, Who being in theForm of God thought it not robbery to
be equal with God, but emptied Himself, and took upon Him
the Form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and
being found in fashion as a Man, He humbled Himself Lo, •
he much marvels at the Son, as being Equal and Con-formal
140 Words against the Son " words of wickedness." v
' \
i _ B . ?*™ with God the Father, not, by reason of His Love to us, seizing
' this, but descending to lowliness, through the Form of a ser-
vant, emptied by reason of His Manhood. But if, sirs, He
■* • ■ on receiving the Spirit were sanctified rather, when He be- \
*i came Man, and were, through the sanctifi cation, rendered ,:
superior to Himself, into what kind of lowliness shall we see
Him to have descended ? How is That made low that was
" exalted, how did That descend that was sanctified, or how
i did it not rather ascend, and was exalted for the better ? |
What emptiness hath filling through the Spirit ? or how will if
He at all be thought to have been Incarnate for our sakes, %
Who underwent so great profit in respect of Himself? f
'* 2Cor.yiu. How did the Rich become^oor for our sokes, who was enriched |
<1% because of us? How was He rich even before His Advent, S
* ' * ' Who acccording to them received in it what He had not, to :?
wit the Spirit ? Or how will He not rather justly offer to us |
; t Jer.ii. 12, thank-offering for what by means of us He gained? Be 1
I ' astonished, as it is written, ye heavens, at this : and be :|
' * . . horribly- afraid, saith the Lord : for the people of the heretics |
1 Tim. i. have in truth committed two evils, understanding neither what fl
they say, nor whereof they affirm, and think it not grievous |
thus to incur such danger in the weightiest matters. For else |
would they, shedding bitter tears fromtheir eyes, and liftingup |
Ps. ?xli. amighty voice on high, have approached, saying, Set a watch, |
Lord, before my mouth, keep the door of my lips. Incline I
not my heart to words of wickedness. For words of wicked- |
, t ness in truth are their words, travailing with extremest .|
mischief to the hearers. But we, having expelled their |
babbling from our heart, will walk in the right way of the I
'i ,2 Cor. x. faith, bearing in mind that which is written : Gasti?ig down §
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against §
i . the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought E
I : to the obedience of Christ. -Come then, and bringing into 1
f captivity our mind as to the subjects before us, let us sub- h
I ,: ject it to the glory of the Only-Begotten, bringing all things |
«! , wisely to His obedience, that is, to the mode of the Incar- j§
Ib.viii.9. nation. For, being Rich, for our sakes He became poor, that
ive through His poverty might be rich.
Mail's loss through sin.
141
Receive then, if you please, our proof through that also which
is now before us, opening a forbearing ear to our words. The
Divine Scripture testifies that man was made in the Image
and Likeness of God Who is over all. And indeed, he who
compiled the first book for us (Moses, who above all men
was known to God) says, And God created man, in the Image
of God created He him. But that through the Spirit he was
sealed unto the Divine Image, himself - again taught us,
saying, And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. For
the Spirit at once began both to put life into His formation
and in a Divine manner to impress His own Image thereon.
Thus the most excellent Artificer God, having formed the
reasonable living creature upon the earth, gave him the sav-
ing commandment. And he was in Paradise, as it is written,
still keeping the Gift, and eminent in the Divine Image of
Him That made him, through the Holy Ghost That indwelt
him. But when perverted by the wiles of the devil, he
began to despise his Creator, and by trampling on the law
assigned him, to grieve his Benefactor, He recalled the grace
given to him, and he that was made unto life then first heard
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. And now
the Likeness to God was through the inroad of sin defaced,,
and no longer was the Impress bright, but fainter and
darkened because of the transgression. But when the race
of man had reached to an innumerable multitude, and sin
had dominion over them all, manifoldly despoiling each
man's soul, his nature was stripped of the ancient grace ;
the Spirit departed altogether, and the reasonable creature
fell into extremest folly, ignorant even of its Creator. But
the Artificer of all, having endured a long season, at length
pities the corrupted world, and being Good hastened to
gather together to those above His runaway flock upon
earth ; and decreed to trans-element human nature anew to
the pristine Image through the Spirit. For no otherwise
was it possible that the Divine Impress should again shine
forth in him, as it did aforetime.
What then He contrives to this end, how He implanted in us
the inviolate grace, or how the Spirit again took root in man,
Chap. 1.
c.i.32,33.
Exod.
xxxiii. 17.
LXX.
Gen. i. 27.
lb. ii. 7.
lb. 8.
lb. iii. 19.
■
:*»'
1.1
V I
142 God the Son gives again to man the Spirit.
Book 2. in what manner nature was re-formed to its old condition, it is
c i 3' 33 -
' ' J ' ' meet to say. The first man, being earthy, and of the earth,
and having, placed in his own power, the choice between good
and evil, being master of the inclination to each, was caught
of bitter guile, and having inclined to disobedience, falls to the
earth, the mother from whence he sprang, and over-mastered
now at length by corruption and death, transmits the penalty
to his whole race. The evil growing and multiplying in us, and
our understanding ever descending to the worse, sin reigned,
and thus at length the nature of man was shewn bared of
Wisd.i.5, the Holy Ghost Which indwelt him. For the Holy Spirit of
wisdom will flee deceit, as it is written, nor dwell in the body
* that is subject unto sin. Since then the first Adam preserved
. • not the grace given him of God, God the Father was minded
to send us from Heaven the second Adam. For He sendeth
in our likeness His own Son Who is by Nature without
variableness or change, and wholly unknowing of sin, that
as by the disobedience of the first, we became subject to
Divine wrath, so through the obedience of the Second, we
might both escape the curse, and its evils might come to
nought. But when the Word of God became Man, He re-
ceived the Spirit from the Father as one of us, (not receiv-
ing ought for Himself individually, for He was the Giver of the
Spirit) ; but that He Who knew no sin, might, by receiving
It as Man, preserve It to our nature, and might again in-
root in us the grace which had left us. For this reason, I
deem, it was that the holy Baptist profitably added, I saw
the Spirit descending from Heaven, and It abode upon Him.
For It had fled from us by reason of sin, but He Who knew
no sin, became as one of us, that the Spirit might be accus-
tomed to abide in us, having no occasion of departure or
withdrawal in Him.
Therefore through Himself He receives the Spirit for us,
and renews to our nature, the ancient good. For thus is He
^Cor.viii. also said for our sokes to become poor. For being rich, as
God and lacking no good thing, He became Man lacking all
l Cor. iv. things, to whom it is somewhere said and that very well, What
hast thou that thou didst not receive ? As then, being by
Rom. v.
19.
7.
The Son Incarnate shamed not to abase Himself. 143
Nature Life, He died in the Flesh for our sakes, that He Chap i.
' c. 1.32, 33.
might overcome death for us, and raise up our whole nature
together with Himself (for all we were in Him, in that He
was made Man) : so does He also receive the Spirit for our
sakes, that He may sanctify our whole nature. For He
came not to profit Himself, but to be to all us the Door and
Beginning and Way of the Heavenly Goods. For if He had
not pleased to receive, as Man, or to suffer too, as one of us,
how could any one have shewn that He humbled Himself?
or how would the Form of a servant have been fittingly kept,
if nothing befitting a servant were written of Him ? Let
not then the all-wise account of the dispensation be pulled
to pieces 7 , whereof the divine Paul himself rightly cries in ^ a<rupe "
admiration : To the intent that now unto the principalities Eph. ^iii.
and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church
the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose
which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. For wisdom
indeed and God-befitting, is the great mystery of the Incar-
nation seen to be.
Such an apprehension of our Saviour do I suppose that
we who choose to be pious, and rejoice in orthodox doctrines,
ought to have. For we too will not descend to such lack
of reason 8 as to suppose that in the Son by Nature was the 8 a\oyiav
Spirit by participation and not rather essentially inherent
even as in the Father Himself. For as of the Father, so
also of the Son, is the Holy Ghost. So did we also read
in the Divine Scriptures. For it says : After they were come £- cts XV1 »
to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia, and the Spirit of
Jesus b suffered them not.
But if it seem good to any one, with over contentious zeal,
to object to our words hereon, and to assert again, that the
Spirit is in the Son by participation, or that, not being in
Him before, He then came to be in Him, when He was bap-
tized, in the period of His Incarnation, let him see, into
what and how great absurdities he will fall. For first, the
Saviour saith : Among them that are born of women there S- Matt '
xi. 11.
b " The Spirit of Jesus." So reads early Syriac version, containing the
S. Cyril with oldest MSS. and the first translation of most of the N. T.
1
Book 2.
c.i.32,33
1
•; * S.Mark
i. 7.
ir i
S. Luke
i. 15.
"lb. 35.
!Jt,ihi
n
lb.
144 S. John the Baptist sanctified, the Son Essentially holy.
hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. And the
word is true: but we see him who hath attained to the sum-
mit of glory and virtue that belong to us, honouring Christ
with incomparable excellencies. For I am not worthy, says he,
to stoop doivn and unloose the latchet of His shoes. How then
is it not absurd, yea rather impious, to believe that John was
filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb, be-
cause it is so written of him : and to suppose that his Mas-
ter, yea rather the Master and Lord of all, then first received
the Spirit, when He was baptized, albeit holy Gabriel says
to the holy Virgin : The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,
and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow thee ; therefore
also that holy Thing which shall be born of thee, shall be
called the Son of God. And let the lover of learning see,
with how great a meaning the word travaileth. For of John,
it saith, he shall be fitted with the Holy Ghost (for the Holy
Ghost was in him as a gift, and not essentially), but of the
Saviour, he no longer saith shall be fitted, (in rightness of
conception,) but that holy Thing which shall be born of thee.
Nor did he add shall be, for It was always Holy by Nature,
as God.
But since I deem that we ought to seek after what is
profitable from all quarters ; the voice of the archangel hav-
ing been once brought forward, come, let us exercise our-
selves a little in it. The Holy Ghost, says he, shall come
upon thee, and the Power of the Highest shall overshadow
thee ; therefore also That Holy Thing which shall be born of
thee, shall ^be catted the Son of God. Let him then, who
from great unlearning, opposeth the right doctrines of the
Church, tell us, whether even before the Incarnation the
the Word of God the Father was Son, or had the glory in
name only, but was a bastard, and falsely called. For if
he say that He was not the Son at all, he will deny the Fa-
ther (for of whom will He be the Father, if He have no
Son ?) : and he will think contrary to all the Divine Scriptures.
But if he confess that the Son even before the Incarnation
both was and was called Son, how does the Archangel tell
us that That which should be born of the holy Virgin shall
S
The Intimate Union between the Son and the Holy Ghost. 145
be called the Son of God, albeit He was this by Nature
even long before ? As therefore the Son being from eter-
nity with the Father, as having Origin of Being, is at
the time of His Incarnation called Son of God, from His
appearing in the world with a Body ; so, having in Himself
Essentially His Own Spirit, He is said to receive It as Man,
preserving to the Humanity the order befitting it, and with
it appropriating for our sakes the things befitting it. But
how can the Word be thought of at all apart from Its Own
Spirit ? For would it not be absurd to say, that the spirit
of man, which is in him, according to the definition 9 of nature,
and for the completeness * of the living-being, was separated
from him ? But I suppose that this is most evident to all.
How then shall we sever the Spirit from the Son, Which is
so inherent and essentially united, and through Him proceed-
ing 3 and being in Him by Nature, that It cannot be thought
to be Other than He by reason both of Identity of working,
and the very exact likeness of Nature. Hear what the
Saviour saith to His own disciples, If ye love Me, keep My
Commandments, and I will pray the Father, and He shall
give you Another Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, Whom the
world cannot receive. Lo, plainly He calls the Holy Ghost
Spirit of Truth. But that He and none other than He
is the Truth, hear Him again saying, I am the Truth.
The Son by Nature then being and being called Truth, see
how great Oneness with Him the Spirit hath. For the dis-
ciple John saith somewhere of our Saviour, This is He that
came by water and blood and the spirit % Jesus Christ ,- not by
water only, but by water ajidblood : and it is the Spirit That
beareth witness, because the Spirit is Truth. Therefore also,
the Holy Ghost indwelling in our inner man, Christ Himself
is said to dwell therein, and so it is. And indeed
the blessed Paul most clearly teaching this, says, But ye are
not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, If so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you, the body
« So reads S. Cyril here, cf. De recta and the Spirit;" the latter is also the
nde p. 95 ; infra Book in. c. 4. " by water reading of the codex Alexandrinus.
VOL. 1. T
Chap. 1.
c.i.32,33.
9 opov
1 airapri-
ajx6v
- TTpOKV-
TZTOU
Infra
xiv. 1&,
16, 17.
lb. 6..
1 S.John
v. 6.
Eph. iii.
16.
Ih. 17.
Rom.viii.
9,10.
146
God the Holy Ghost, Unseen, as God.
Book 2.
c.i.32,33.
Rom. riii.
15.
1 S. John
iv. 13.
t!l
.1!
Riil
Supra ver,
18.
3 < T X 7 1l JLa -
S. Matt.
xi. 29.
is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righte-
ousness. Apply, sir, a quick ear to what is said. Having
named the Spirit of Christ That dwelleth in us, he straight-
way added, If Christ be in you, introducing the exact like-
ness of the Son with the Spirit, Which is His Own and pro-
ceeding from Him by Nature. Therefore He is called the
Spirit of adoption also, and in Him we cry Abba, Father.
And as the blessed John somewhere says, Hereby know we
that He dwelleth in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.
I think then that these things will suffice, to enable the
children of the Church to repel the mischief of the heretics.
But if any one be soused in the unmixed strong drink of
their unlearning, and suppose that the Son then first re-
ceived the Spirit, when He became Man : let him shew that
the Word of God was not holy before the Incarnation, and
we will hold our peace.
But one may well wonder that the holy Evangelist every
where preserves with much observance what befits the Di-
, vine Nature. For since he said above, that no man hath
seen God at any time, and now says that the blessed Baptist
saw the Spirit descend from Heaven upon the Son, he adds
of necessity, I saw the Spirit, but in the form of a Hove,
not Himself by Nature, as He is, but shadowed 3 in the gen-
tlest animal ; that in this again He might be shewn to pre-
serve His Natural Affinity and Likeness to the Son, Who
saith, Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.
Therefore the Spirit will not fall away from being God by
Nature : for the never having been seen at any time has
been preserved to Him, save under the form of a dove, by
reason of the need of the disciple. For the blessed Bap-
tist says that the descent of the Spirit was given him by
way of a sign and token, adding to his testimonies respect-
ing our Saviour, He that sent me to baptize with water, the
Same said unto me, Upon Whom thou shalt see the Spirit de-
scending and remaining on Him, the Same is He Which bap-
tizeth with the Holy Ghost. Therefore I think we may fitly
laugh to scorn those senseless heretics who take as matter
of fact, that which was set forth by way of sign, even though
The Intimate Union between the Father and the Son. 147
it took place as part of the ceconomy, as hath been already Chap. l.
said, for the need's sake of the human race.
34 And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God.
Sure is the witness; who, what he hath actually seen, that
he also speak eth. For haply he was not ignorant of that which
is written, That which thine eyes have seen, tell. I sa,w Prov.xxv.
then, says he, the sign, and understood That Which was sig- lxx.
nifiedbyit. I bear record that this is the Son of God, Who was
proclaimed by the Law that is through Moses, and heralded
by the voice of the holy Prophets. The blessed Evangelist
seems to me again to say with some great confidence,
This is the Son of God, that is, the One, the Only by Nature,
the Heir of the Own Nature 4 of the Father, to Whom we top, 4 !Sl6t V -
sons by adoption, are conformed and through Whom we are
called by grace to the dignity of sonship. For as from God
the Father every family in Heaven and earth is namicd, Eph. "i-
from His being properly, and first, and truly Father, so is all
sonship too from the Son, by reason of His being properly and
Alone truly Son, not bastard nor falsely- called, but of the
Essence of God the Father, not by off-cutting or emanation 5 5 V Kara
or division or severance (for the Divine JNature is altogether -i) peiw
Impassible) : but as One of One, ever Co-existing and Co-
eternal and Innate 6 in Him Who begat Him, being in Him, 6 K ^ 7re ^ )v '
and coming forth 7 from Him, Indivisible and without Dim en- 7 Tpoexe-
sions ; since the Divinity is neither after the manner of a
body, nor bounded by space, nor of nature such as to make
progressive footsteps. But like as from fire proceedeth the
heat that is in it, appearing to be separate from it in idea,
and to be other than it, though it is of it and in it by na-
ture, and proceedeth from it without suffering any harm in
the way of off cutting, division, or emanation (foi* it is pre-
served whole in the whole fire) : so shall we conceive of the
Divine Offspring too, thinking thereon in a manner most
worthy of God, and believing that the Son subsists of Him-
self, yet not excluding Him from the One Ineffable God-
head, nor saying that He is Other in substance than the
Father. For then would He no longer be rightly conceived
l2
148
Christ taheth away the sin of the ivorld.
Book 2, of as S on. but something- other than He, and a new god
" would arise, other than He That Only Is. For how shall
not that which is not consubstantial with God by Nature,
wholly fall away from being Very God? But since the
blessed Baptist is both trustworthy, and of the greatest repute,
and testifieth that This is the Son of God : we will confess
the Son to be altogether Very God, and of the Essence of
the Father. For this and nothing else, does the name of
Sonship signify to us.
35 Again the next day after John stood, and two of his
36 disciples, and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold
the Lamb of God, Which taketh away the sin of the world.
Already had the blessed Baptist pointed Him out before;
but lo, repeating again the same words, he points Jesus
out to his disciples, and calls Him the Lamb of God, and
says that He taketh away the sin of the world, all but bring-
ing his hearers to remembrance of Him Who saith in the
Isa. xliii. Prophets : I, even /, am He That blotteth out thy transgres-
sions, and will not remember thy sins. But not in vain does
the Baptist repeat the same account of the Saviour. For
it belongs to skill in teaching, to infix in the souls of the
disciples the not yet received word, not shrinking at repeti-
tion, but rather enduring it for the profit of the pupils. For
therefore does the blessed Paul too say, To write the same
things to you, to me i/ndeed is not grievous, but for you it is
safe.
25.
Phil.
1.
S. Matt.
xxv. 18.
Jb. 27.
Kt«
37 And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Seest thou the fruit, handmaid of teaching, yielded there-
from ? Seest thou how great gain accrued from repetition ?
Let him then who is entrusted with teaching learn from
this, to shew himself superior to all indolence, and to esteem
silence more hurtful to himself than to his hearers, and not
to bury the Lord's talent in listless sloth, as in the earth,
but rather to give His money to the exchangers. For the Savi-
our will receive His own with usury, and will quicken as seed
the word cast in. You have here a most excellent proof of
The Lord looks on them who turn to Him. 149
what has been said. For the Baptist, not shrinking from Chap. i.
pointing out the Lord to his disciples, and from saying a c ' 1 ' '
second time, Behold the Lamb of God, is seen to have so Supra ver.
greatly profited them, as to at length even persuade them
to follow Him and already to desire discipleship under
Him.
38 Then Jesus turned and saw them following, and saith unto
them, What seek ye ?
Fitly does the Lord turn to them that follow Him, that
thou may est learn in act that which is sung, I sought the Ps.xxxiv.
Lord, and hie heard me. For while we do not yet seek the
Lord by good habits and Tightness in believing, we are in
some sort behind Him : but when, thirsting after His Di-
vine law, we track the holy and choice way of righteousness,
then at length will He look upon us, crying aloud what
is written, Turn ye unto Me, and L will turn unto you, saith Zech. i. 3.
the Lord of Hosts. But He saith unto them, What seek ye?
not as though ignorant (whence could it be so ?), for He
knoweth all things, as God; but making the question a
beginning and root of His discourse.
They said unto Him, Rabbi, where dwellest Thou ?
Like people well instructed do they that are asked reply.
For already do they call Him, Master, thereby clearly
signifying their readiness to learn. Then they beg to know
His home, as about therein to tell Him at a fit season of
their need. For probably they did not think it right to
make talk on needful subjects the companion 8 of a journey, s v i pfl ^
Be what is said again to us for a useful pattern. 7 °"
39 He saith unto them, Come and see.
He doth not point out the house, though asked to do it,
but rather bids them come forthwith to it : teaching first,
as by example, that it is not well to cast delays in the way
of search after what is good (for delay in things profitable
is altogether hurtful) : and this too besides, that to those
who are still ignorant of the holy house of our Saviour
150 The tenth hour the latter end of the world.
Book 2. Christ, that is, the Church, it will not suffice to salvation
' ' " ' that they should learn where it is, but that they should
enter into it by faith, and see the things mystically wrought
therein.
They came and saw where He dwelt, and abode with Him that
day : for it was about the tenth hour.
Assiduously did the disciples apply themselves to the
attainment of the knowledge of the Divine Mysteries. For
I do not think that a fickle mind beseems those who desire
to learn, but rather one most painstaking, and superior to
feeble mindedness in good . toils, so as during their whole
life time to excel in perfect zeal. For this I think the
words, they abode with Him that day, darkly signify. But
when he says, it was about the tenth hour, we adapting our
own discourse to each man's profit, say that in this very
thing, the compiler of Divinity through this so subtle
handling again teacheth us, that not in the beginning of
the present world was the mighty mystery of our Saviour
made known, but when time now draws towards its close.
For in the last days, as it is written, we shall be all taught
of God. Take again I pray as an image of what has been
said about the tenth hour, the disciples cleaving to the
Saviour, of whom the holy Evangelist says that having once
become His guests they abode with Him : that they who
through faith have entered into the holy house, and have
run to Christ, may learn that it needs to abide with Him,
and not to desire to be again estranged, either turning
aside into sin, or again returning to unbelief.
Isa. liv.
18.
40 One of the two which heard John speak and followed Him, was
41 Andrew Simon Peter's brother. He first findeth his own brother
42 Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which
is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus.
They who even now received the talent, straightway make
traffic of their talent, and bring it to the Lord. For such
are in truth obedient and docile souls, not needing many
words for profit, nor bearing the fruit of their instruction,
p
Christ's Divine fore-knoivledge.
151
Chap. 1.
c.i. 42,43.
after revolutions of years or months, but attaining the goal
of wisdom along with the commencement of their instruction.
For give, it says, instruction to a wise man, and he will Prov.ix.9
be yet wiser : teach a just man, and he will increase in learn-
ing. Andrew then saves his brother (this was Peter), having
declared the whole mystery in a brief summary. For we
have found, he says, Jesus, as Treasure hid in afield, or as
One Pearl of great price, according to the parables in the
Gospels.
S Matt,
xiii. 44.
lb. 46.
And when Jesus beheld him, He said, Thou art Simon the son of
Jona, thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, a
stone.
He after a Divine sort looketh upon him, Who seeth the Cf Jer.
hearts and reins ; and seeth to how great piety the disciple
will attain, of how great virtue he will be possessed, and at
what consummation he will leave off. For He Who know-
eth all things before they be is not ignorant of ought. And Hist.
• i-i ■ !• i • nil ou.Scinn&
herein does He specially instruct him that is called, that 42.
being Yery God, He hath knowledge untaught. For not
having needed a single word, nor even sought to learn who
or whence the man came to Him ; He says of what father
he was born, and what was his own name, and permits him
to be no more called Simon, already exercising lordship and
power over him, as being His : but changes it to Peter r< £.y"/"*' *
from Fetra* : for upon him was He about to found His s -.Matt.
• L XVI. Lo.
Church.
43 The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee ; and
Jindeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow Me.
Likeminded with those preceding was Philip, and very
ready to follow Christ. For Christ knew that he would be
good. Therefore also He says Follow Me, making the word
a token of the grace that was upon him, and wherein he bid
him follow, testifying to him that most excellent was his
conversation. For Ho would not have chosen him, if he
had not been altogether good.
- i
i •
u
152 Christ bom in Bethlehem,- brought up at Nazareth.'
Book 2. 45 Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found
■ ' Him, of Whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write,
Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Joseph.
Exceeding swift was the disciple unto the bearing fruit,
that hereby he might shew himself akin in disposition to them
that had preceded. For he findeth Nathanael, not simply-
meeting him coming along, but making diligent search
for him. For he knew that he was most painstaking and fond
of learning. Then he says that he had found the Christ
Who was heralded through all the Divine Scripture, ad-
dressing himself not as to one ignorant, but as to one ex-
ceedingly well instructed in the learning both of all-wise
Moses and of the prophets. For a not true supposition was
prevailing among the Jews as regards our Saviour Jesus
Christ, that He should be of the city or village of Nazareth,
albeit the Divine Scripture says that He is a Bethlehemite,
2. as far as pertains to this. And thou, Bethlehem, it says,
in the land of Judah, house of Ephrata, art little to be among
the thousands of Judah, for out of thee shall He come forth unto
Me That is to be ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been
from of old, from everlasting. For He was brought up in
Nazareth, as the Evangelist himself too somewhere testified,
saying, And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought
up ; but He was not thence, but whence we said before, yea
rather, as the voice of the prophet affirmed. Philip therefore
following the supposition of the Jews says, Jesus of Nazareth.
46 Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth ?
Nathanael readily agrees that something great and most
fair is that which is expected to appear out of Nazareth d .
It is, I suppose, perfectly clear, that not only did he take
Nazareth as a pledge of that which he sought, but bringing
i ipavi(6- together x knowledge from the law and Prophets, as one fond
of learning he gained swift understanding.
Mic. i
LXX
S. Luke
iv. 16.
Come and see.
Sight will suffice for faith, says he, and having only con-
d As if S. Cyril read, not as a question something good come."
but affirmatively " Out of Nazareth can
r
Christ proves that He is God by His fore-knowledge. 153
versed with. Him you will confess more readily 3 , and will un-
hesitatingly say that He is indeed the Expected One. But
we must believe that there was a Divine and Ineffable grace,
flowing forth with the words of the Saviour, and alluring
the souls of the hearers. For so it is written, that all won-
dered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His Mouth.
For as His word is mighty in power, so too is it efficacious
to persuade.
Chap. 1.
c.i.47 48.
2 yopy6-
repov
S. Luke
iv. 22.
47 Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile.
Not having yet used proof by means of signs, Christ en-
deavoured in another way to persuade both. His own disciples,
and the wiser of those that came to Him, that He was by
Nature Son and God, but for the salvation of all was come
in human Form. What then was the mode that led to faith ?
God-befitting knowledge. For knowledge of all things
befitteth God Alone. He receiveth therefore Nathanael, not
hurrying him by flatteries to this state, but by those things
whereof he was conscious, giving him a pledge, that he
knoweth the hearts, as God.
48 Whence knowest thou me?
Nathanael begins to wonder, and is called to a now firm
faith : but desires yet to learn, whence He has the knowledge
concerning him
and pious souls,
him had been shewn to the Lord by Philip
For very accurate are learning-seeking 3 3 4>»*°-
But perhaps he supposed that somewhat of
Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the figtree,
I saw thee.
The Saviour undid 4 his surmise, saying that even before his 4 ?Au<rw
meeting and conversing with Philip, He had seen him under
the fig-tree, though not present in Body. Very profitably
are both the fig-tree and the place named, pledging to him
the truth of his having been seen. For he that has already
accurate knowledge of what was with him, will readily
be admitted.
0'
154
Angels serve Christ as their God.
liHV*
Book 2. 49 Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel.
c.i.49-51.
He knows that God Alone is Searcher of hearts, and
giveth to none other of men to understand the mind, con-
Ps. vii. 9. sidering as is likely that verse in the Psalms, God trieth
the hearts and reins. For as accruing to none else, the
Psalmist hath attributed this too as peculiar to the Divine
Nature only. When then he knew that the Lord saw his
thoughts revolving in his mind in yet voiceless whispers,
straightway he calls Him Master, readily entering already
into discipleship under Him, and confesses Him Son of God
and King of Israel, in Whom are inexistent the Properties of
Divinity, and as one well instructed he affirms Him to be
wholly and by Nature God.
50 Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest
thou ? thou shalt see greater things than these.
Thou shalt be firmer unto faith, saith He, when thou
seest greater things than these. For he that believed one
sign, how shall he not by means of many be altogether
bettered, especially since they shall be more wonderful than
those now wondered at ?
i *
S. Matt.
iv. 11.
51 Verily, verily I say unto you, h..*reafter ye shall see Heaven
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the
Son of Man.
Common now to all is the word which seals the faith of
Nathanael. But in saying that angels shall be seen speeding
up and down upon the Son of Man, that is, ministering and
serving His commands, for the salvation of such as shall
believe, He says that then especially shall He be revealed
as being by Nature Son of God. For it is not one another
that the rational powers serve but surely God. And this
does not take away subjection among the angels (for this
will not be reasonably called bondage) . But we have heard
of the Holy Evangelists, that angels came to our Saviour
Christ, and ministered unto Him.
Christ present at the marriage blesses marriage. 155
Chap. 1.
c. ii. 1-4.
5 a/3ov\ri-
TO)S
Chap. ii. And the third day there was a marriage in Carta of
2 Galilee; and the mother of Jesus was there ; and both Jesus
3 was called, and His disciples, to the marriage. And when
they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto Him,
They have no wine.
Seasonably comes He at length to the beginning of mira-
cles, even if He seems to have been called to it without set
purpose 5 . For a marriage feast being held (it is clear that
it was altogether holily), the mother of the Saviour is pre-
sent, and Himself also being bidden comes together with
His own disciples, to work miracles rather than to feast with
them, and yet more to sanctify the very beginning of the
birth of man : I mean so far as appertains to the flesh. For
it was fitting that He, Who was renewing the very nature of
man, and refashioning it all for the better, should not only
impart His blessing to those already called into being, but
also prepare before grace for those soon to be born, and
make holy their entrance into being.
Receive also yet a third reason. It had been said to the
woman by God, In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children.
How then was it not needful that we should thrust off this
curse too, or how else could we escape a condemned mar-
riage ? This too the Saviour, being loving to man, removes.
For He, the Delight and Joy of all, honoured marriage with
His Presence, that He might expel the old shame 6 of child- 6 nar4\(pu
bearing. For if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature ;
and old things are passed away, as Paul saith, they are become
new. He cometh therefore with His disciples to the mar-
riage. For it was needful that the lovers of miracles should
be present with the Wonderworker, to collect what was
wrought as a kind of food to their faith. But when wine
failed the feasters, His mother called the Lord being good
according to His wonted Love for man, saying, They have
no ivine. For since it was in His Power to do whatsoever
He would, she urges Him to the miracle.
4 Jesus saith unto her Woman, what have I to do with thee ?
Mine hour is not yet come.
Most excellently did the Saviour fashion for us this dis-
Gen. iii.
16.
2 Cor. v.
17.
' 1
156 Christ begins miracles at His mother's instance.
Ilj j „ B -°°*i 2 n course a l so - F° r it behoved Him not to come hastily 7 to
7 Spofiaioy action, nor to appear a Worker of miracles as though of
His Own accord, but, being called, hardly to come thereto,
and to grant the grace to the necessity rather than to the
lookers on. But the issue of things longed for seems some-
how to be even more grateful, when granted not off-hand to
those who ask for it, but through a little delay put forth
to most lovely hope. Besides, Christ hereby shews that the
deepest honour is due to parents, admitting out of rever-
ence to His Mother what He willed not as yet to do.
5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto
* ' you, do.
The woman having great influence to the performing of
<ll( the miracle, prevailed, persuading the Lord, on account
'■,,, of what was fitting, as her Son. She begins the work by
i » preparing the servants of the assembly to obey the things
that should be enjoined.
7 Jesus saith unto them, Fill the waterpots with water. And
8 they filled them up to the brim. And He saith unto them,
Draw out now, and bear unto the governor of the feast. And
t . 9 they bare it. When the ruler of the feast had tasted the water
that was made wine, and knew not whence it was (but the ser-
vants which drew the water knew J ; the governor of the feast
10 called the bridegroom and saith unto him, Every man at the be-
ginning doth set forth good wine, and when men have well drunk,
then that which is worse ; but thou hast kept the good wine until
The ministers accomplish what is commanded, and by
unspeakable might was the water changed into wine. For
what is hard to Him "Who can do all things ? He that calleth
into being things which are not, how will He weary, trans-
ordering into what He will things already made ? They mar-
vel at the thing, as strange ; for such are Christ's works to
look upon. But the governor of the feast charges the bride-
groom with expending what was better on the latter end
of the feast, not unfitly, as appears to me, according to the
narration of the story.
Restoration of lost nature by the Spiritual Bridegroom. 157
1 1 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and Chap. 1.
manifested forth His glory, and His disciples believed on Him.
Many most excellent things were accomplished at once
through the one first miracle. For honourable marriage was Cf Heb.
sanctified, the curse on women put away (for no more
in sorrow shall they bring forth children, now Christ has Gen - "*•
blessed the very beginning of our birth), and the glory of
our Saviour shone forth as the sun's rays, and more than
this, the disciples are confirmed in faith by the miracle.
The historical account then will stop here, but I think we
ought to consider the other view of what has been said, and
to say what is therein signified. The "Word of God came
down then from Heaven, as He Himself saith, in order that
having as a Bridegroom, made human nature His own 8 , He
might persuade it to bring forth the spiritual offspring of
Wisdom. And hence reasonably is the human nature called
the bride, the Saviour the Bridegroom ; since holy Scripture
carries up language from human things to a meaning that
is above us. The marriage is consummated on the third
day, that is, in the last times of the present world : for the
number three gives us beginning, middle, end. For thus
is the whole of time measured. And in harmony with this
do we see that which is said by one of the prophets, He
hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will
He revive us, in the third day He will raise us up, and we
shall live in His Sight. Then shall we know if we follow on
to know the Lord ; His going forth is prepared as the morn-
ing. For He smote us for the transgression of Adam, saying,
Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. That which
was smitten by corruption and death He bound up on the
third day : that is, not in the first, or in the middle, but in
the last ages, when for us made Man, He rendered all
our nature whole, raising it from the dead in Himself.
Wherefore He is also called the Firstfruits of them that
slept. Therefore in saying it was the third day, whereon the
marriage was being consummated, he signifies the last time.
He mentions the place too ; for he says it was in Ga,na of
° otKeico-
<ra.iJ.fvos
Hos.
1-3.
Gen. iii.
19.
1 Cor. xv.
20.
158
\ i
j" '
Christ's Bounty.
Book 2.
eAP.ii. 14,
Isa. ix. 1,
9 vrjipews
1 7rA.oii<n-
6Sa>pos
2 Cor. iii.
6.
2 Tim. ii.
6.
Cf. ib. 7.
Galilee. Let him that loves learning again note well : for
not in Jerusalem is the gathering, but without Judaea is the
feast celeb rated, as it were in the country of the Gentiles.
. For it is Galilee of the gentiles, as the prophet saith. It is
I suppose altogether plain, that the synagogue of the Jews
rejected the Bridegroom from Heaven, and that the church
of the Gentiles received Him, and that very gladly. The
Saviour comes to the marriage not of His own accord ; for
He was being bidden by many voices of the Saints. But wine
failed the feasters ; for the law perfected nothing, the Mosaic
writing sufficed not for perfect enjoyment, but neither did
the measure of implanted sobriety 9 reach forth so as to be ablo
to save us. It was'therefore true to say of us too, They have
no wine. But the Bounteous l God doth not overlook our na-
ture worn out with want of good things. He set forth wine
, better than the first, for the letter hilleth, hut the Spirit giveth
life. And the law hath no perfection in good things, but
the Divine instructions of Gospel teaching bring in fullest
blessing. The ruler of the feast marvels at the wine : for
every one, I suppose, of those ordained to the Divine Priest-
hood, and entrusted with the house of our Saviour Christ, is
astonished at His doctrine which is above the Law. But
Christ commandeth it to be given to him first, because, ac-
cording to the voice of Paul, The husbandman tha,i la-
boureth must be first partaker of the fruits. And let the
hearer again consider what I say.
14 And found in the temple those that sold owen and sheep and
doves, and the changers of money sitting.
The Jews are again hereby too convicted of despising the
laws given them, and making of no account the Mosaic writ-
ings, looking only to their own love of gain. For whereas the
law commanded that they who were about to enter into the
Divine temple should purify themselves in many ways ; those
who had the power of forbidding it hindered not the bankers
or money-changers, and others besides, whose employment
was gain, usury and increase, in their lusts (for the whole
aim of merchants is comprised in these things) : they hinder-
TJie scourge a punishment befitting slaves.
ed them not from defiling the holy court, from enteri
it as it were with unwashen feet, yea rather they the:
altogether used to enjoin it, that God might say Il^j v*.
them, Many pastors have destroyed My vineyard, they have ]^'™'
trodden My portion under foot, they have made My pleasant
portion a desolate wilderness, they have made it desolate. For
of a truth the Lord's vineyard was destroyed, being taught
to trample on the Divine worship itself, and through the
sordid love of gain of those set over it left bare to all
ignorance.
15 And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them
all out of the temple.
Reasonably is the Saviour indignant at the folly of the
Jews. For it befitted to make the Divine Temple not an
house of merchandise, but an house of prayer : for so it is ^j 1 ^ 1
written. But He shows His emotion not by mere words,
but with stripes and a scourge thrusts He them forth of the
sacred precincts, justly devising for them the punishment
befitting slaves ; for they would not receive the Son Who
through faith maketh free. See I pray well represented as
in a picture that which was said through Paul, If any man L Cor ' "
dishonour the Temple of God, him shall God dishonour. ~
16 Take these things hence ; make not My Father's House an house
of merchandise.
He commands as Lord, He leads by the hand to what is
fitting, as teacher ; and along with the punishment He sets
before them the declaration of their offences, through shame
thereof not suffering him that is censured to be angry.
But it must be noted that He again calls God His own
Father specially 2 , as being Himself and that Alone by Nature ' M°" a5 '
of Him, and truly Begotten. For if it be not so, but the
Word be really Son with us, as one of us, to wit by adop-
tion, and the mere Will of the Father:' why does He alone
seize to Himself the boast common to and set before all, say-
ing, Make not My Father's House, and not rather, our Father's
House. For this I suppose would have been more meet to
160
Christ honours them who honour Him.
,u
rti
j ,
h
Book 2, say, if He had known that Himself too was one of those who
' are not sons by Nature. But since the Word knows that He
is not in the number of those who are sons by grace, but of
the Essence of God the Father, He puts Himself apart from
the rest, calling God His Father. For it befits those who are
called to sonship and have the honour from without, when
S. Matt, they pray to cry, Our Father Which art in Heaven : but
the Only Begotten being Alone One of One, with reason
calls God His Own Father.
But if we must, applying ourselves to this passage, har-
1 \oytKu nionize it more spiritually 3 with that above, the lection must
TtpOV 1 ■ -l
be considered differently.
14 sqq. And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep, Sfc.
See again the whole scheme of the Dispensation to usward
drawn out by two things. For with the Cananites, I mean
those of Galilee, Christ both feasts and tarries, and them
that bade Him, and hereby honoured Him, He made par-
takers of His Table ; He both aids them by miracles and
fills up that which was lacking to their joy (and what good
thing does He not freely give ?) : teaching as in a type that
He will both receive the inhabitants of Galilee, that is the
Gentiles, called as it were to them through the faith that is
insthem, and will bring them into the Heavenly Bridal-cham-
ber, that is unto the church of the first-born, and will make
them sit down with the saints (for the holy disciples sat
down with the feasters) : and will make them partake
of the Divine and spiritual feast, as Himself saith, Many
shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of Heaven, nought
Isa. xxxv. lacking unto their joy. For everlasting joy shall be upon
their heads. But the disobedient Jews He shall cast forth
of the holy places, and set them without the holy inclosure
of the saints ; yea, even when they bring sacrifices He will not
receive them : but rather will subject them to chastisement
and the scourge, holden with the cords of their own sins.
For hear Him saying, Take these- things hence ; that thou
mayest understand again those things which long ago by
S. Matt.
•viii. 11.
Prov. v.
22.
Ml
I!
commands even those who will not to obey.
161
the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah He saith, I am full of the ^ j!^-' ^
burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight Isa. i.
not in the blood of bullocks and of he goats, neither come ye to
afpear before Me, for who hath required this at your hand ?
tread not My courts any more. If ye bring an offering of fine
flour, vain is the oblation, incense is an abomination unto Me ;
your new moons and sabbaths and great day I cannot
endure, your fasting and rest and feasts My soul hateth :
ye are become satiety unto Me, I will no longer endure
your sins. This He most excellently signifies in type, de-
vising for them the scourge of cords. For scourges are a
token of punishment.
1 7 And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of
Thine House hath eaten Me up.
The disciples in a short time get perfection of knowledge,
and comparing what is written with the events, already shew
great progress for the better.
18 What sign shewest Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these
things ?
The multitude of the Jews are startled at the unwonted
authority, and they who are over the temple are extremely
vexed, deprived of their not easily counted gains. And they
cannot convict Him of not having spoken most rightly in
commanding them not to exhibit the Divine Temple as a
house of merchandise. But they devise delays to the flight
of the merchants, excusing themselves that they ought not
to submit to Him off-hand, nor without investigation to re-
ceive as Son of God Him Who was witnessed to by no
sign.
19 Destroy this temple.
To them who of good purpose ask for good things, God
very readily granteth them : but to them who come to Him,
tempting Him, not only does He deny their ambition in re-
spect of what they ask, but also charges them with wicked-
ness. Thus the Pharisees demanding a sign in other parts of
VOL. I. M
162
'*
The Temple of God.
Book 2.
cAP.ii.20.
S. Matt.
xii.39,40,
lb. xxvi.
61.
Ps. XXXV,
11.
Ps. xxvii
12.
iiSiicws
Ps. lxix.
the Gospels the Saviour convicted saying, An evil and
adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no
sign be given to it } but the sign of the prophet Jonas :
for as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights
in the heart of the earth. What therefore He said to those,
this to these too with slight change : for these (as did those)
ask, tempting Him. Nor to those who were in such a
state of mind would even this sign have been given, but
that it was altogether needful for the salvation of us all.
But we must know that they made this the excuse of their
accusation against Him, saying falsely before Pontius Pilate,
what they had not heard. For, say they, This Man saith, I
am able to destroy the Temple of God. Wherefore of them
too did Christ speak in the prophets, False witnesses did
rise up : they laid to My charge things that I knew not : and
again, For false witnesses are risen up against Me, and such
as breathe out cruelty. But He does not urge them to blood-
shed saying, Destroy this Temple, but since He knew that
they would straightway do it, He indicates expressively 4
what is about to happen.
20 Forty and siw years was this Temple in building, and wilt
Thou rear it up in three days ?
They mock at the sign, not understanding the depth of
the Mystery, but seize on the disease of their own ignorance,
as a reasonable excuse for not obeying Him, and consider-
ing the difficulty of the thing, they gave heed rather as to
one speaking at random, than to one who was promising
ought possible to be fulfilled, that that may be shewn to be
true that was written of them, Let their eyes be darkened,
that they see not, and ever bow Thou down their backs : in
order that in a manner ever stooping downwards and
inclining to the things alone of the earth, they may receive
no sight of the lofty doctrines of piety towards Christ, not
as though God Who is loving to man grudged them those
things, but rather with even justice was punishing them
that committed intolerable transgressions.
He Who says, My Father's House, is God. 163
For see how foolishly they insult Him, not sparing Chap. l.
c ii 21 22
their own souls. For our Lord Jesus Christ calls God His ' ' '
Father, saying, Make not My Father's House an House of Supra ver.
merchandise. Therefore when they ought now to deem of
Him as Son and God, as shining forth from God the Fa-
ther, they believe Him to be yet bare man and one of us.
Therefore they object the time that has been spent in the
building of the Temple, saying, Forty and six years was
this Temple in building, and wilt Thou rear it up in three
days ? O drunken with all folly, rightly, I deem, one might
say to you, if a wise soul had been implanted in you, if ye
believe that your Temple is the House of God, how ought
ye not to have held Him to be God by Nature, Who dares
fearlessly tell you, Make not My Father's House an House of
merchandise ? How then, tell me, should He have need of
a long time for the building of one house ? or how should
He be powerless for anything whatever, who in days only
seven in number, fashioned this whole universe with inef-
fable Power, and has His Power in only willing ? For
these things the people skilled in the sacred writings ought
to have considered.
21 22 But He spake of the Temple of His Body. When there-
fore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that
He had said this unto them : and they believed the Scripture,
and the word which Jesus had said.
Acceptable to the wise man is the word of wisdom, and
the knowledge of discipline abideth more easily with men of
understanding, and as in wax not too hard, the impression
of seals is well made, so in the more tender hearts of men
the Divine Word is readily infixed : wherefore the hard of
heart is also called wicked. The disciples then, being of a
good disposition, become wise, and ruminate the words of
divine Scripture, nourishing themselves to more accurate
knowledge, and thence coming firmly to belief. Since the
Body of Christ is called a temple also, how is not the Only-
Begotten Word Which indwelleth therein, God by Nature,
since he that is not God cannot be said to dwell in a Tem-
m 2
M
164
Christ God, Whose Body is a Temple.
Book 2-. vile ? Or let one come forward and say, what saint's body
c ii 21 22 x
' was ever called a temple ; but I do not suppose any one can
shew this. I say then, what we shall find to be true, if we
accurately search the Divine Scripture, that to none of the
Saints was such honour attached. And indeed the blessed
Baptist, albeit he attained unto the height of all virtue, and
suffered none to exceed him in piety, was through the mad-
ness of Herod beheaded, and yet is no such thing attributed
to him. On the contrary, the Evangelist devised a grosser
word for his remains, saying this too, as appears to me by
an oeconomy, in order that the dignity may be reserved to
Christ Alone. For he writes thus ; And the blood-shedder
S. Matt, to wit, Herod, sent and beheaded John in the prison, and his
xiv. 10, 12. ,
disciples came and took up his carcase c . If the body of John
be called a carcase, whose temple will it be ? In another
sense indeed, we are called temples of God, by reason of
the Holy Ghost indwelling in us. For we are called the
temples of God, and not of ourselves.
But haply some one will say : How then, tell me, doth
lb. xxiv. the Saviour Himself call His own Body a carcase, For
'■> wTu/xa wheresoever He saith the carcase 5 is, there will the eagles
be gathered together. To this we say, that Christ saith
this not of His Own Body, but in manner and guise of a
parable He signineth that concourse of the Saints to Him,
that shall be at that time when He appeareth again to us,
lb.xvi.27. with the holy angels, in the glory of His Father. For like
as, saith He, flocks of carnivorous birds rush down with a
sharp whizzing to fallen carcases, so shall ye too be gathered
together to Me. Which indeed Paul too doth make known
i Cor. xv. to us, saying, For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead
shall be raised incorruptible ; And again in another place,
and we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That therefore
which is taken by way of similitude for an image will no
wise damage the force of the truth.
1 Thess
iv. 17.
' f
il :
c wTwixa. S. Mark vi. 29, and so reads uncial MSS. BCDL and the Codex
S. Cyril in S. Matthew too, as do the Sinaiticus.
yvw/jLti
Long growth fy diligence needed for maturity of life. 165
23 Now when He teas hi Jerusalem at the Passover in the feast Chap. 1.
day, many believed in His Name, when they saw the miracles " "" *
which He did.
Christ ceaseth not from saving and helping. For some
He leads to Himself by wise words, the rest startling by
God-befitting Power too, He taketh in His net 6 to the faith, 5 aayr\vtv-
by the things which they see Him work persuaded to confess,
that the Artificer of these so great wonders is of a truth
God.
24 But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them.
Not firmly established is the judgment 7 of new believers, 7
nor is the mind firmly built upon fresh miracles. And how
should they whose course of instruction was yet so to say
green, be already rooted in piety ? Therefore Christ doth
not yet commit Himself to the novices, shewing that a great
thing and most worthy of love 8 is affinity with God, and 8
that it doth not just lie before those who desire to have it,
but is achieved by zeal for good, and diligence and time.
Let the stewards of the Mysteries of the Saviour hence
learn, not suddenly to admit a man within the sacred veils,
nor to permit to approach the Divine Tables, neophites un-
timely baptized and not in right time believing on Christ
the Lord of all. For that He may be an Ensample to us
in this also, and may teach us whom fittingly to initiate,
He receives indeed the believers, but is seen not yet to have
confidence in them, in that He does not commit Himself to
them : that hence it may be manifest, that it befits novices
to spend no small time under instruction ; for scarce even so
will they become faithful men.
1!
di-itpa-
25 Because He knew all, and needed not that any should testify
of man ; for He knew what was in man.
Divine is this excellence too along with the rest which are
in Christ, and in no one of created beings is it. For to
Him Alone Who is truly God doth the Psalmist ascribe it,
saying, He fashioneth their hearts alike, He considcretJo all Ps.xxxiii.
166
Christ God Who knoweth the heart.
iv
Book 2.
S|;
c.iii. 1,2
II-
Hist. Sus
i|l
42.
h\ :
Dan. ii.
22.
ICor.ii.
:{: . !
11.
A; •
1 i
u ■ <
Ill"
Heb. r
12, 13.
Ps. xciv.
y.
Job
xxxviii. 2
LXX.
i/ietr works* But if while God Alone understandeth what is
in us, Christ understandeth them : how shall He not be God
by Nature, Who knoweth the secrets, and knoweth the deep and
secret things, as it is written ? For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him ? Though no
man knoweth, God will not be ignorant, for neither is He
reckoned in the number of all, of whom " No man " may
rightly be predicated, but as being external to all, and all
things under His Feet, He will know. And Paul too will
testify, saying, For the word of God is quick and powerful and
sharper than any two edged sword, 'piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and
is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart : neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but all
things are naked and opened unto the Eyes of Him. For as
having planted the ear, He hears all things, and as having
formed the eye, He observeth. And indeed He is introduced
saying in Job, Who is this that hideth counsel from Me, hold-
ing words in his heart, and thinketh to conceal them from Me ?
In order then that we might acknowledge that the Son is by
Nature God, needs does the Evangelist say that He needed
not that any should testify of man, for He knew what was in
man.
Chap. iii. There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of
2 the Jews : the same came to Jesus by night and said unto Him,
More ready is Nicodemus to believe, but overcome by no
good fear, and not despising the opinion of men, he refuses
boldness 9 , and is divided in opinion into two, and halts
in purpose, feeble upon both his knee joints, as it is written,
forced by the convictions of his conscience to the duty of
believing by reason of the exceedingness of the miracles,
but esteeming the loss of rulership over his own nation a
thing not to be borne, for he was a ruler of the Jews. Deem-
ing that he can both preserve his repute with them, and be
a disciple secretly, he cometh to Jesus, making the darkness
of the night an aider of his scheme, and by his secret com-
ing convicted of double mindedness.
8 irapprj-
olav
1 Kings
xviii. 21.
LXX.
God the Holy Ghost by Nature God.
167
Rabbi, we know that Thou art a Teacher come from God ; for Chap. 1.
no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be c ' m ' ' '
3 with him. Jesus answered and said unto him
In these words he supposes that he can attain complete
piety, and imagines that it will be sufficient for his salvation,
to marvel merely at those things which call for wonder :
nought else but this does he seek. Calling him a Teacher
from God, and a co-worker with Him, he does not yet
know that He is by Nature God, nor understand the plan
of the dispensation with Flesh, but still approaches as to
a mere man, and hath but slight conception of Him.
Verily verily I say unto thee, Except a man be born again,
4 he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him,
Faith consisteth not, Nicodemus, in what thou thinkest.
Speech sufficeth not unto thee for righteousness, neither wilt
thou achieve piety by mere words. For not every one that S. Matt.
saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father Which is in
Heaven. But the will of the Father is, that man be made
partaker of the Holy Ghost, that the citizen of earth reborn
unto an unaccustomed and new life, be called a citizen of
Heaven. When He calls the new birth of the Spirit from
above, He sheweth clearly that the Spirit is of the Essence
of God the Father, as indeed Himself too saith of Himself,
I am from above. And the most wise Evangelist again saith *£ fra viii -
of Him, He that cometh from above is above all. Infra ver.
But that the Spirit is of the Essence of God the Father
we shall speak more largely in its proper place.
How can a man be born when he is old ? can he enter a second
5 time into his mother's womb, and be born ? Jesus answered,
Nicodemus is convicted hereby of being still carnal, and
therefore no way receiving the things of the Spirit of God. 1 Cor ' n '
For he thinketh that this so dread and illustrious Mystery is
foolishness. And hearing of the birth spiritual and from
above, he imagineth the carnal womb returning to birth-pang
of things already born, and, not attaining beyond the law of
i ij i
•.' i
14
168 The new Birth in Baptism two-fold, for body and souL
\<\
nil !
I'
Book 2. our nature, measureth 10 things Divine ; and finding the height
10 KavovC of its doctrines unattainable by his own conceptions, he
'" falleth down, and is carried off. For as things that are
dashed by mighty blows upon the hard stones again rebound,
so too I deem the unskilled mind falling upon conceptions
of greater calibre than it, being relaxed returns, and ever
glad to remain in the measure that suits it, despises an un-
derstanding better and loftier than itself. In which case the
ruler of the Jews now being, receives not the spiritual birth.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the Kingdom of God.
Since the man did not understand as he ought, what
the need of being born from above meant, He instructs
him with plainer teaching, and sets before him the more
open knowledge of the Mystery. For our Lord Jesus
Christ was calling the new birth through the Spirit
from above, shewing that the Spirit is of the Essence
2 S. Pet. That is above all essences, through Whom we become far-
takers of the Divine Nature, as enjoying Him Who proceeds
from It Essentially, and through Him and in Him re-formed
to the Archetype-Beauty, and thus re-born unto newness
of life, and re -moulded to the Divine Sonship. But Nico-
demus not so understanding the word from above, imagined
it was meant that the future birth should take place after
the manner of bodies : therefore also falling into imaginations
which shut him up in impossibility, he was caught alike
senseless and hard of learning. Of necessity therefore
» rpvtpt- (j oeg faQ gaviour answer yet more mildly 11 , as to one more
p&rtpov J .
infirm of habit, and removing the veil that seemed to be
thrown over His Words, He now says openly, Except a
man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter
into the Kingdom of God. For since man is compound, and
not simple in his nature, being combined of two, to wit, the
sensible body and intellectual soul, he will require two-fold
healing for his new birth akin to both the fore-named. For
by the Spirit is the spirit of man sanctified, by the sanctified
water again, his body. For as the water poured into the
We are born of the Spirit) how.
169
HI
kettle, being associated with the vigour of fire, receives in Chap. \.
itself the impress of its efficacy, so through the inworking
of the Spirit the sensible water is trans-elemented to a Di-
vine and ineffable efficacy, and sanctifieth those on whom it
comes.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is bom
of the Spirit is spirit.
By another argument again He persuades him to mount
up to a higher understanding, and on hearing of spiritual
birth, not to think of the properties of bodies. For as it is
altogether necessary, saith He, that the offspring of flesh
should be flesh, so also is it that those of the Spirit should
be spirit. For in things the mode of whose being is
different, in these must surely the mode of generation also
be not the same. But it is to be known that we call the
spirit of a man the offspring of the Spirit, not as being of It
by Nature (for that were impossible), but in the first place,
and that in order of time, because that through Him that
which was not was called into being, and in the second place
and oeconomically, because of its being re-formed unto God
through Him, He stamping l His Own Impress upon us, and x ^o\l$o-
trans-fashioning our understanding to His own Quality 3 , so to 2 hWttj-
speak. For so I deem, you will understand aright that too
which is said to some by Paul, My little children, of whom Gal. iv.
I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, and
again, For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the i_Cor. iv.
Gospel.
7 8 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. The
wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth ; so is
evert/ one that is born of the Spirit.
It is the excellence of a teacher, to be able manifoldly
to manage the mind of the hearers, and to go through
many considerations 3 , heaping up proofs where the argument a etwpy-
appears hard. He takes then the figure of the mystery from Ma ™"
examples, and says, This spirit 4 belonging to the world and * JKf^
wind.
170 The air, itself unseen, its working seen, a type.
■r |
i I
'i
Boor 2.
c.iii.9 ;
5 KT&ircp
of the air, blows throughout the whole earth, and running
ii v ' where it listeth, is shewn to be present by sound 5 only, and
escapeth the eye of all, yet, communicating itself to bodies
by the subtlest breaths, it infuseth some perception of
its natural efficacy. So do thou, saith He, conceive of
the new birth also through the Spirit, led on by little
examples to what is greater, and by the reasoning brought
forward as it were in an image, conceiving of what is above
the senses.
Ecclus.
xxv. 9.
1; * *
Rom. xi.
25.
Isa. vi. 9.
9 Nicodemus answered and said unto Him, How can these things
10 be? Jesus answered and said unto him,
Long discourse nothing profits him who understandeth
not a whit. Wise then is the saying in the book of Proverbs,
Well is he that speaheth in the ears of them that will hear. And
this the Saviour shewed by trial to be true, giving Himself
an ensample to us in this too. For the teacher will be
wholly free from the charge of not being able to persuade,
saying what himself thinks good, though he profit nothing
by reason of the dulness of the hearers. Besides we learn
by this, that hardness in part is happened to Israel. For
hearing they hear and understand not.
u>
S. Matt.
x.24.
Art thou a master of Israel and knowest not these things ?
By one Christ convicts all, that adorned with the name
of teachers, and clothed with the mere repute of being
learned in the law, they bear a mind full of ignorance, and un-
able to understand one of those things, which they ought not
only to know, but also to be able to teach others. But if he
that instructeth be in this condition, in what is he that is in-
structed, seeing that the disciple exceedeth not the measure
of his master, according to the word of the Saviour ? For
the disciple, saith He, is not above his master. But since
they were thus uninstructed, true is Christ in likening them
to whited sepulchres. Most excellently doth Paul too say to
Ood shall smite thee, thou whited
lb. xxiii,
27.
Acts xxiii. the ruler of the Jews,
wall.
Teachers must teach step by step.
171
I; '
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know and Chap. 1.
testify that we have seen. c * 1U *
He finds the man careless of learning and exceedingly un-
instructed and, by reason of his great grossness of mind,
utterly unable to be led unto the comprehension of Divine
doctrines, albeit many words had been expended with mani-
fold examples. Whence letting alone, as was fitting, accu-
rate explanation, He at length advises him to accept in simple
faith, what he cannot understand. He testifies that Himself
knows clearly what He saith, by the illustriousness of His
Person shewing that yet to gainsay is most dangerous. For
it was not likely that Nicodemus would forget, who had
affirmed that he knew it of our Saviour Christ, that He was
a Teacher come from God. But to resist one who is from Supra
n • • Ver " %'
God and God, how would it not be fraught with peril ? for
the thing is clearly a fighting with God. But hence we
ought to know, who have authority to teach, that for those
just come to the faith, faith in simple arguments is better
than any deep reasoning, and more elaborate explanation.
And Paul also used to feed with milk some, not yet able to l Cor. iii.
bear stronger meats. And the most wise Solomon again
somewhere says to us, Thou shalt wisely 6 know the souls Proy.
of thy flock, meaning that we should not set before those lxx.
who come to us the word of doctrine indiscriminately, but v wa " ra ' s
fitly adapted to the measure of each.
And ye receive not our witness.
As having in Himself the Father and the Spirit Natu-
rally, the Saviour set forth the person of the Witnesses in
the plural number, that, as in the law of Moses, by the mouth Deut.xix.
of two or three witnesses, what is said may be established.
For He shews that the Jews in no wise will to be saved, but
with unbridled and heedless impetus aretheybeing borne unto
the deep pit of perdition. For if they can neither from
their great unlearning understand what is proclaimed to them,
nor yet receive it in faith, what other means of salvation
may be devised for them ? Well then and very justly did
the Saviour say that Jerusalem would be without excuse, as
15.
172
God and man One Christ,
is ' <
Book 2. snatching: upon herself self-called destruction. Jerusalem,
Hi 12 13
S." Matt.' Jerusalem, saith He, that killest the prophets and stonest them
38. 1H * which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, and ye would not ! Behold your house is left unto
you. -
7 Siopiff-
jx6v
lb. xxvi.
87.
12 If I have told you earthly things and ye believe not, how
13 shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things ? And no man;
hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from
heaven, the Son of man Which is in heaven.
A doctrine, saith He, not exceeding the understanding'
befitting man, ye from your extreme folly received not, and
how shall I explain to you things more Divine ? For they
who in their own matters are most foolish, how shall they be
wise in matters above them ? And they who are powerless
as to the less, how shall they not find the greater intolerable ?
And if, says He, ye believe not Me being Alone in speaking,
but seek many witnesses for every thing, whom shall I bring
to you as a witness of the heavenly Mysteries ? For no man
hath ascended up to heaven but He That came down from hea~
ven the Son of man. For since the Word of God came down
from heaven, He says that the son of man came down, refus-
ing after the Incarnation to be divided into two persons, and
not suffering certain to say that the Temple taken by reason
of need of the Virgin is one Son, the Word again which ap-
peared from God the Father another : save only as regards
the distinction 7 which belongs to each by nature. For as
He is the Word of God, so Man too of a woman, but One
Christ of both, Undivided in regard of Sonship and God-be-
fitting Glory. For how does He clothe as its own the Temple
of the Virgin, with what befitteth the bare Word Alone : and
again appropriateth to Himself what befitteth the Flesh only ?
For now He saith that the Son of man hath come down from
heaven : but at the time of His Passion, He feareth, and is
sore afraid, and very heavy, and is- recorded as Himself suf-
fering the Sufferings which befitted His Human Nature
only.
The brazen serpent fixed aloft a type of Christ. 173
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so Chap. 1.
15 must the Son of man be lifted tip, that whosoever believeth in ' '
Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Having explained sufficiently, and set before him the rea-
son, why His Word of teaching does not run forth into the
boundless and supernatural, but descends again to those things
that were typically done by Moses of old, knowing that he
could by leadings by means of figures scarce arrive at know-
ledge of the truth, rather than by the exactitude of spiritual
inspirations, He saith He must surely be lifted up, as
the serpent was by Moses, shewing that search of history is
most necessary, and all but saying to this man of no under-
standing, Search the Scriptures, for they are they which I" fra v -
testify of Me. For serpents were springing upon them of
Israel in the wilderness, and they, falling like ears of corn,
and not a little distressed at this danger unexpectedly visiting
them, with most piteous cry called for salvation from above
and from God. But He, since He was Good and full of
compassion, as God, commands Moses to set up a brazen Num.xxi.
serpent ; and commands them therein to have a forethought 8 8 \po^-
of the salvation by faith. For the remedy to one bitten,
was to look at the serpent put before him, and faith along
with the sight wrought deliverance at the last extremity to
the beholders. So much for the history. But it represents
in act as it were in a type, the whole Mystery of the Incar-
nation. For the serpent signifies bitter and manslaying sin,
which was devouring the whole race upon the earth, mani-
foldly biting the soul of man, and infusing the varied poison
of wickedness. And no otherwise could we escape it thus
conquering us, save by the succour alone which is from
heaven. The Word of God then was made in the likeness o/? om ' V11U
sinful flesh, that He might condemn sin in the flesh, as it is
written, and to those who gaze on Him with more steadfast
faith, or by search into the Divine doctrines, might become the
Giver of unending salvation. But the serpent'being fixed up-
on a lofty base, signifies that Christ was altogether clear and
manifest, so as to be unknown to none, or His being lifted up Infra xii.
from the ea/rth, as Himself says, by His Passion on the Cross.
174
God's Love, that He gave for us creatures.
Book 2.
c. iii. 16.
I . I
yopyus
* 4'
I
" {■
I ** -.
Heb.x
28, 29.
16 For God so loved the world, that He gave His Only Begotten
Son, that whosoever helieveth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.
He desireth to shew openly herein, that He is God by-
Nature, since one must needs deem that He Who came forth
from God the Father, is surely God also, not having the
honour from without, as we have, but being in truth what
He is believed to be. With exceeding skill does He say this,
having joined therewith the love of God the Father to us, well
and opportunely coming to discourse thereon. For He
shames the unbelieving Nicodemus, yea* rather, He shews
that he is ungodly also. For the not coming readily to believe,
when God teaches anything, what else is it, than laying upon
the Truth a charge of falsehood ? Besides this, in saying
that He was given for the life of the world, He persuades him
to consider seriously 9 , of how great punishment they will be
in danger, who from their mad folly, have made of no ac-
count so wondrous grace of God the Father. For God, says
He, so loved the world that He gave His Only Begotten Son.
Let the Christ-opposing heretic again hear, and let him
come forward and say, what is the greatness of the Love of
God the Father, or how we should reasonably marvel at it.
But he will say that the marvel of the love is seen, in His
giving His Son for us, and that the Only Begotten. In
order then that the great love of God the Father may remain
and be preserved, let Him be held to be Son not a crea-
ture, I mean Son of the Essence of the Father, that is
to say, Consubstantial with Him Who begat Him, and
God verily and in truth. But if, according to thy speech,
o thou, He possesseth not the being of the Essence of
God the Father, He will also lose the being by Nature Son
and God, and the wide-spread marvel of the Love of God
will at length come to nought : for He gave a creature for
creatures, and not truly His Son. Vainly too will the
blessed Paul trouble us, saying, He that despised Moses'
law died without mercy under two or three witnesses : of how
much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy
who hath trodden under foot the Son of God ? For confessedly
God the Son.
175
in
he that despised trampleth under foot, but not the Very Son, Chap. i.
but a fellow servant of Moses, if indeed creature be always
akin to creature, in respect at least of having been made,
even if it surpass the glory of another, in the excellences of
being greater or better. But the word of Paul is true ; and a
severer penalty shall he pay who hath trodden under foot
the Son, not as though he were transgressing against a crea-
ture, or one of the fellow servants of Moses. Great then and
above nature is the Love of the Father, Who for the life of
the world gave His Own Son and Who is of Himself.
17 For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved.
Having plainly called Himself the Son of God the Father,
He thought not good to leave the word without witness, but
brings forward proof from the quality, so to say, of the
things themselves, making the hearers more steadfast unto
faith. For I was not sent, saith He, like the law-expounder
Moses, condemning the world by the law, nor introducing
the commandment unto conviction of sin, nor do I perform
a servile ministry, but I introduce loving-kindness befitting
the Master: I free the embondaged, as Son and Heir
of the Father, I transform the law that condemneth into
grace that Justine th, I release from sin him that is holden p rov. v.
with the cords of his transgressions, I am come to save the
world, not to condemn it. For it was right, it was right,
saith He, that Moses, as a servant, should be a minister of
the law k that condemns, but that I as Son and God should free
the whole world from the curse of the law and, by exceed-
ingness of lovingkindness, should heal the infirmity of the
world. If then the grace that justifieth is better than the
commandment that condemneth, how is it not meet to con-
ceive that He surpasseth the measure of the servant Who
introduceth so God-befitting authority, and releaseth man
from the bonds of sin ?
This then is one aim of the passage under consideration,
and no mean one. A second besides this, revolving through
the same circuit, and introducing a consideration akin to
if "
176
Christ tries every way not to condemn,
* ; .
Book 2. those above, will be given from love of learning
c. ni. 18. ° °
The
Saviour saw that Nicodemus was cleaving to the law of
Moses, and was fast held to the more ancient command-
ment, and was somehow startled at the new Birth through
the Spirit, shrinking from the new and Gospel polity, sup-
posing it seems that this would be more burdensome
than the things already enjoined. Being therefore not
ignorant, as God, of the fear which from his ignorance
had sprung upon him, by using one short argument, He
frees him from all trouble on this score, and shews that
the commandment of Moses, by reason of its condemning
the world, is harder to be borne, and introduces Himself as
a mild Judge, saying, For God sent not His Son into the
world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him
might be saved.
w> '< i
18 He that believeth on the Son is not condemned ; but he that
helieveth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed
in the Name of the Only Begotten Son of God.
Having proved by facts, that He is both Son of God the
Father, and introduceth into the world grace which is more
excellent than the ministration of Moses (for how is not the
being justified by grace better than the being condemned by
the law ?), He devised, as God, another way to bring unto
the faith, from all quarters driving together to salvation them
that were lost. He puts forth then to the believer as his re-
ward the not being called to judgement, to the unbeliever
punishment, bringing into one and the same way by both,
calling to come readily unto the faith, some by desire for the
grace, others by fear of suffering. He shews that heinous
and great is the crime of unbelief, since He is Son and Only
Begotten. For by how much is that worthy of belief which
is insulted, so much the more will that which despises
be condemned for his dire transgression. He says that he
that believeth not is condemned already, in that he hath al-
ready determined against himself the due sentence of punish-
ment, by knowingly rejecting Him Who gives not to be
condemned.
condemns those who will be condemned.
Ill
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, Chap. 1.
and men loved darkness rather than light. ' '
He lets not the condemnation of the unbelievers remain
without consideration, but recounts its causes, and shews
clearly that, according to the words of the Proverbs, Not un- lxx* ^"
justly is the net spread for the birds. For they, saith He, who
when it was in their power to be illuminated preferred to
remain in darkness, how will not they fairly be determiners
of punishment against themselves, and self-invited to suffer-
ing which it was in their power to escape, if they had been
right provers of things, choosing rather to be enlightened
than not, and studying to make the baser things second to
the better ? But He preserved the mind of man free from the
bonds of necessity, and tending by its own impulses to both
sides, that it might justly receive praise for good things,
and punishment for the contrary. As indeed He sheweth in
another place, saying, If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall ^' u 19,
eat the good of the land ; but if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall
be devoured with the sword.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to
the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
Profitably doth He go over what has been said, and convicts
indolence unto things helpful of proceeding from love of evil,
and of having its root in unwillingness to learn those things
whereby one may become wise and good. For the doer of
evil, says He, flees from and refuses the being in the Divine
Light : not hiding from shame on account of evil (for so he
would have been saved) but desiring to remain in ignorance
of what is becoming, lest transgressing he should be smitten,
falling upon the now keener 1 convictions of his own consci- 1 ?iKpo-
ence, and by means of at length clearly knowing what is Tepo ' y
good, should pay a more woeful account to the Judge, if he
should not do what was pleasing to God. But he that doeth
truth (that is, the lover and doer of the works of the Truth)
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest
thoA, they are wrought in God. For he doth not reject the
illumination in the Spirit, by It specially led to be able to
VOL. i. N
178 Knowledge an aid to a holy life.
..? < !2?l: understand in all calm collectedness, whether he hath transi-
tu. 22-24. , . . .
gressed the Divine commandment, and whether he hath
wrought all things according to the Law of God.
It is then a plain proof of an unbridled tendency to evil,
and unrestrained pleasure in what is worse, not to wish tq
learn that whereby one may avail to attain unto what is
better: again of desire for the best, to thirst for illumi-
nation, and to make His Law a rule so to say and index
unto a conversation pleasing to God. And the Divine
Ps. xix. 7, Psalmist knowing that this was so, sings, The Law of the
Lord imperfect converting the soul : the testimony of the Lord
is sure, making wise the simph. The statutes of the Lord are
right, rejoicing the heart : the commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes.
22 After these things came Jesus and His disciples into the land
23 of Judcea. And John also was baptizing in JEnon near to
Salim, because there was much water there ; and they came,
24 and were baptized. For John was not yet cast into prison.
After the conversation with Nicodemus had now reached
its conclusion, the Divine Evangelist again prepares some^
thing else most profitable. For enlightened by the Divine
■ Spirit to tho exposition of things most needful, he knew
that it would exceedingly profit his readers to know clearly,
how great the excellence, and by how great measures, the
baptism of Christ surpasses that of John. For it was indeed
. not far from his expectation, that certain would arise who
of their folly should dare to say, either that there was no
difference whatever between them, but that they ought to
be crowned with equal honours; or, having stumbled into
folly even wilder than this, say, that the vote of superiority
ought to be taken away from Christ's baptism, and the su-
periority shamelessly lavished on the baptism by water. For
what daring is not attainable by the ill-instructed, or through
what blasphemy do they not rush, who rising up against
Mic. iii. the holy doctrines of the Church, pervert all equity, as it is
written? The most wise Evangelist then, that he might
, destroy beforehand the plea for their vain-babbling, intro-
S. John Baptist knows the excellence of Christ's Baptism. 179
is I • I
duces "the holy Baptist laying before his disciples the solu- iy. 25,*26*
tiou of the question. Christ therefore baptizes through His
Own disciples : likewise John too, and not altogether by the
hands of others, nor yet did he baptize in those same fount-
ains, where Christ was manifested doing this, but near to
Salim, as it is written, and in one of the neighbouring fount-
ains. And through the very distinction (in a way) of the
fountains of waters does he shew the difference of the bap-
tism, and signify as in a figure that his baptism is not the
same as that of our Saviour Christ : yet was it near and
round about, bringing in a kind of preparation and intro-
duction to the more perfect one. As then the law of Moses
too is said to have a shadow of the good things to come, not the Heb. x. 1.
very image -of the things (for the Mosaic letter is a kind of
preparatory exercise and pre-instruction for the worship in
the Spirit, travailing with the truth hidden within), so shalt
thou conceive too of the baptism unto repentance.
25 Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples
26 and a Jew a about purifying. And they came unto John, and
said unto him,
The Jews being powerless to commend the purifications
of the law, and not able to advocate the cleansing through
the ashes of an heifer, plan something against John's disci- Ib.ix. 13.
pies, whereby they thought to cause them no slight vexation,
albeit easily worsted in their own matters. For since they
who attended the blessed Baptist, appeared to be more ex-
cellent and of more understanding than the Pharisees, ad-
miring the baptism of their own teacher, and opposing the
purifications after the law ; they are vexed at these things,
who are diligent in reviling only and most ready unto all
wickedness : and even overturning their own case, they praise
Christ's Baptism, not rightly disposed, nor pouring forth true
praise on it, but exasperated to the mere distressing of them ;
and lending out a statement against their opinion, until their
purpose should attain its accomplishment. They cannot
. * So S. Cyril reads with the Vatican MSS. and the Syriac version (dating
and Alexandrine Codices and other old from the second century).
K 2
I
!!
it
i:
180
Trouble of 8. John Baptist's disciples.
:ts-
t* !
r *
,
iii. 26, 27! * nen adduce any reasonable proof, nor do they even support
Christ out of the holy Scriptures (for, whence were such
understanding to the uninstructed ?) : but they merely allege
in confirmation of their own arguments, that very few in num-
ber are those who come to John, but that they flock together
to Christ. For haply they in their exceeding folly thought
that they should carry off the vote of victory, and might speak
out in behalf of the legal purifications, as having already con-
quered, by giving the palm over John's to the Baptism be-
stowed by Christ on those who come to Him. And they vex
those with whom their dispute was : but they get off with
difficulty and leave the disciples of John, much more beaten
by their ill-considered dispute. For they crown with com-
pulsory praises, and against their will, the Lord.
Rabbi, He that was with thee beyond Jordan, to Whom thou
barest witness, behold, the Same baptizeth, and all men come to
27 Him. John answered and said,
The disciples bitten by the words of the Pharisees, and
looking to the very nature of the thing, were not able to
convict them as liars, but were reasonably at a loss, and
being ignorant of the great dignity of our Saviour, are ex-
ceedingly startled at John's shortcoming, and mingling words
• • of love with reverence and admiration, they desire to learn,
why He That was borne witness to by his voice, prevents
him in honour, outstrips him in grace, and in baptizing takes
in His net, not a portion of the whole Jewish multitude, but
even all of them. And they made the inquiry as it seems
2 ovk &0c- no t without the Will of God 2 : for hence the Baptist invites
them to an accurate and long explanation respecting the
Saviour, and introduces the clearest distinction between the
baptisms.
A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
, He says that there is nothing good in man, but must needs
be wholly the gift of God. For it befits the creation to hear,
1 Cor. iv. What hast thou that thou didst not receive ? I think then
that we ought to be content with the measures allotted
We must deeply prize what God allots us.
181
to us, and to rejoice in the honours apportioned to us from £ h ™* 2 q'
heaven, but by no means to stretch out beyond, nor in
desire ever of what is greater unthankfully to despise the
decree from above, and fight against the judgment of the
Lord, in shame that one should appear to receive what is
less than the more perfect : but with whatsoever God
shall please to honour us, to value that highly. Let not
my disciple therefore, saith he, be ashamed, if I do not
overleap the measure given me, if I do not contemplate the
greater, and am contracted to the glory befitting a man.
28 Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said, I am not the
Christ, but that I am sent before Him.
He brings his disciples to the recollection of the words
which they have already often heard, partly reproving them
rightly, as steeped in forgetfulness of things profitable, and
slumbering in respect to this so most dread doctrine, partly
persuading them to remember the Divine Scripture, as 3 3 t?j m
having been nourished in zeal for the knowledge of these ™i\£!a9-
things ; Whom it preaches as the Christ to come, whom again tl<?
as the Baptist the forerunner. For thus would they, having
received knowledge of each, be in no wise angry, seeing
them in the state befitting each. I shall need then, saith
he, no other witnesses to this, I have my own disciples
as ear -witnesses, I confessed my state of servitude, when I
fore-announced, I was sent, I am not the Christ. Let Him
overcome, prevail, shine forth yet more as Lord and God.
29 He That hath the bride is the Bridegroom : but the friend of
the Bridegroom, which standeth and heareth Him, rejoiceth
greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice ; this my joy
therefore is fulfilled.
The discourse again took its rise from likeness to our
affairs, but leads us to the knowledge of subtle thoughts.
For types of things spiritual are those which endure the
touch of the hand, and the grossness of corporeal examples
introduceth oftentimes a most accurate proof of things spiri-
182
Christ is All.
T
'r ;
Book 2.
c.iii. 30.
pidpXV*
& Tb(nrol5-
8ao>ia
Ps. xlv.
10, 11.
LXX.
Cant. i. 7
Supra pp
157, 168.
tual. Christ then, says he, is the Bridegroom and ruler of
the assembly 4 , I the bidder to the supper and conducter of
the bride, having as my chiefest joy and illustrious dignity>
to be only enrolled among His friends, and to hear the Voice
of Him That feasteth. I have therefore even now that that
I long for, and my dearest wish 5 is fulfilled. For not only
did I preach that Christ would come, but Him already pre-
sent have I seen, and His. very Voice do I lay up in my ears.
But ye, most wise disciples, seeing the human nature
that is betrothed to Christ, going to Him, and beholding the
nature which was cut off and a run-away from its love to
Him attaining to spiritual union through holy Baptism,
grieve not, saith he, that it befits not me, but rather runs
very gladly to the spiritual Bridegroom (for this were in
truth just and more fitting) . For He That hath the bride is
the Bridegroom; that is, seek not in me the crown of the
Bridegroom, not for me does the Psalmist rejoice, saying,
Hearken, daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear ; for-
get also thine own people and thy father's house, for the King
hath desired thy beauty : nor seeking my chamber doth the
, bride say, Tell me, Thou Whom my soul loveth, where Thou
feedest, where Thou mahest Thy flock to rest at noon : she has
the Bridegroom from Heaven. But I will rejoice, having
surpassed the honour becoming a bondman, in the title and
reality of friendship.
I deem then that the meaning of the passage, has been
• full well interpreted : and having already sufficiently ex-
plained the spiritual marriage, I think it tedious to write
any more about it.
- &'■
30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
He convicts his disciples of being yet troubled about
trifles, and of taking unseasonable offence at what they by
no means ought, and of not yet knowing accurately, Who
and whence Emmanuel is. For not thus far, saith he, shall
His Deeds be marvelled at, nor because more are baptized
by Him, shall He for this alone surpass my honour, but He
Examples of increase and decrease.
183
shall attain to so great a measure of honour, as befitteth Ch .4. p * *•
b ' c in. 30.
God. For He must needs come to increase of glory, and,
through daily additions of miracles, ever mount up to the
greater, and shine forth with greater splendour to the world:
but I must decrease, abiding in that measure wherein I ap-
pear, not sinking from what was once given me, but in
such a degree inferior to Him That advanceth ever to an
increase of glory, as He hasteth and passeth on.
And this the blessed Baptist interpreteth to us. But
our discourse will advance profitably through examples,
making the force of what has been said clearer. Let then
a stake two cubits long be fixed in the ground : let there
lie near a plant too, just peeping above the ground, putting
forth green shoots into the air, and ever thrust up to a great-
er height by the resistless vigour from the roots ; if then
one could put voice into the stake, and it should then say of
itself and its neighbour the plant, This must increase, but I
decrease ; one would not reasonably suppose that it indicated
any harm to itself, nor that its existing measure would be
clipped, but it would be affirming its decrease in that sort
only, in which it is found less than that which is ever advan-
cing towards increase. Again you may take an example
akin to this one, and suppose the brightest of the stars to
cry out saying of the sun, It must increase, but I decrease.
For while in the gloom of night the depth of the atmosphere
is darkened, one may well admire the morning star flashing
forth its golden light, and conspicuous in its full glory : but
when the sun now gives notice of its rising, and bedews the
world with a moderate light, the star is surpassed by the
greater, and gives place to him advancing little by little.
And it too might well speak the words of John, being in
that same state, which he says he is enduring.
i !
I;-
i* 1 '
i !'
CHAPTEE II.
That the Son is not in the number of things originate, but above
all, as God of God.
31 He That cometh from above is above all.
No great thing is it, saith he, nor exceeding wonderful, if
Christ surpass the glory of human nature : for not thus far
doth He set the bounds of His own glory, but is over all
creation, as God, is above all things made, not as
numbered among all, but as excepted from all, and Di-
vinely set over all. He adds the reason, shaming the
gainsayer, and silencing the opposer. He That cometh
from above, saith he, that is, He That is born of the
root from above, preserving in Himself by Nature the
ebQvtav Father's Natural goodness 1 , will confessedly possess the
being above all. For it would be impossible that the Son
should not altogether appear to be such as He That begat
is conceived of, and rightly. For the Son Who excelleth in
sameness of Nature, the Brightness and express Image of
the Father, how will He be inferior to Him in glory ? Or
will not the Property of the Father 2 be dishonoured in the
Son, and we insult the Image of the Begotten, if we
count Him inferior? But this I suppose will be mani-
fest to all. Therefore is it written also, That all men^
should honour the Son even as they honour the Father : he
that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father. He
That glorieth in equal honour with God the Father, by
reason of being of Him by Nature, how will He not be con-
ceived of as surpassing the essence of things originate ? for
this is the meaning of is above all.
2 rb TOD
warpbs
tStov
Infra v.
23.
True meaning of From above. 1 85
But I perceive that the mind of the fighters against Christ c H iiif " 31 *
will never rest, but they will come, as is probable, vainly
babbling and say, „When the blessed Baptist says that the
„ Lord sprang from above, what reason will compel us to
„ suppose that He came of the Essence of the Father, by
„ reason of the word from above, and not rather from heaven,
„ or even from His inherent superiority above all, so that
„for this reason He should be conceived of and said to be
„ also above all ? „ When therefore they aim at us with
such words, they shall hear in return, Not your most cor-
rupt reasonings o most excellent, will we follow, but rather
the Divine Scriptures and the Sacred Writings only. We
must then search in them, how they define to us the force of
from above. Let them hear then a certain one of the Spirit-
clad crying, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from S. James
above, and cometh down from the Father of lights. Lo, plainly
he says that from above is from the Father : for knowing that
nought else surpasseth things originate save the Ineffable
Nature of God, he rightly attached to it the term from above.
For all things else fall under the yoke of bondage; God
alone riseth above being ruled, and reigneth : whence
He is truly above all. But the Son, being by Nature God
and of God, will not be excluded from the glory in respect of
this. But if ye deem that from above ought to be taken as Of
heaven, let the word be used of every angel and rational
power. For they come to us from heaven who inhabit the
city that is above, and ascend and descend, as the Saviour Supra
somewhere says, upon the Son of man. What then
persuaded the blessed Baptist to attribute that which was in
the power of many to the Son Alone specially, and as to
One coming down from above to call Him, He That cometh
from above ? For surely he ought to make the dignity com-
mon to the rest, and say, They that come from above are above
all. But he knew that the expression was due to the One
Son, as sprung of the Supreme Root.
Therefore from above does not mean from heaven : but
will be piously and truly understood, in the sense we spoke
of before. For how is He at all above all, if from above
51.
186
God the Son God, All the creature.
* j;
1 fi
•Botffc 2.
c. iii. 31.
:• I
: li
Ps. cii.
26,27.
signify not From the Father, but rather From Heaven ? For
if this be so, every one of the angels too will be above all, as
coming from thence. But if each one escapes being reck-
oned among all, of whom at last will all be composed ? or
how will the word all remain intact, preserving accurately its
meaning, while such a multitude of angels overpass and
break down the boundary of all ? For all it is no longer, if
they remain outside, who were in all. But the Word That
Bhone forth ineffably from God the Father, having His Pro-
per Birth from above, and being of the Essence of the Father
as of a fountain, will not by His coming wrong the word
all, seeing He escapes being reckoned among all as if a
part : but rather will be above all, as Other than they, both
by Nature and God-befitting Power and all other Properties
of Him Who begat Him.
But perchance they will say abashed at the absurd
result of the investigation, „From above means not
„ from heaven, but from His inherent superiority above
„ all.,, Come then, testing more accurately the force of
what is said, let us see at what an end their attempt will
terminate. First then, it is wholly foolish and without un-
derstanding, to say that the Son Himself hath come from
His Own Dignity, and that as from a certain place or out
of one, He One and the Same advances from His Own
Excellency to be above all. In addition to this, I would
also most gladly enquire of them, in respect of the ex-
cellence above all, whether they will grant it to the Son
Essentially and irrevocably, or added from without in
the nature of accident. If then they say that He hath
the Excellence by acquisition, and is honoured with dignities
from without, one must needs acknowledge that the Only-
Begotten could exist deprived of glory, and be stripped of
the acquired (as they call it) grace r and be deprived of
being above all, and appear bare of the excellence which
they now admire, since an accident may be lost, seeing that
it belongeth not to the essence of its subject. There will
therefore be change and varying in the Son : and the
Psalmist will lie hymning Him with vain words, The heavens
God the Son God apart from All.
187
shall perish, but Thou shalt endure : yea all of them shall . Ch *F* ^
wax old like a garment, as a vesture shalt Thou change them
and they shall be changed : but Thou art the Same, and Thy
years shall have no end. For how is He the Same, if with
us He changeth, and that with changes for the worse?
Vainly too (it seems) doth He glory of Himself, saying, Mal< -^
Behold, behold, I am, I change not, and there is no God be- *>- .
side Me. And how will not the passions of the offspring 5.
reach up to the Father Himself too, since He is His
Impress and Exact Likeness ? God the Father then will be
changeable, and has the Supremacy over all accruing
to Him : I omit the rest. For what belongs to the Image
will of necessity appertain unto the Archetype. But they
will not say that He hath the supremacy from without
(shuddering at such difficulties alike and absurdities of
their arguments), but Essential rather and irrevocable.
Then again (o most excellent) how will ye not agree
with us even against your will, that the Son being
by Nature God, is above all, and therefore cometh of the
Alone Essence of God the Father ? For if there be nought of
things originate which is not parted off by the force of the
All, but the Son is above all, to wit, as Other than all, and
having the Essential Supremacy over all, and not the same
in nature with all, how will He not be at length conceived
of as Very God? For He Who is Essentially separate
from the multitude of created beings, and by Nature
escapes the being classed among things originate, what
else can He be, save God ? For we see no mean, as far as
regards existing essence 3 . For the creation is ruled over, 3 {, a ' ias
and God is conceived of as over it. If then the Son be by ^ t s a " ru "
Nature God, and have been ineffably begotten of God the
Father, from above signifies the Nature of the Father.
Therefore the Only Begotten is above aiZ,inasmuchasHe too
is seen to be of that Nature.
He that is of the earth is earthly and speaheth of the earth.
■ The earthborn (says he) will not effect equally in power
of persuasion with Him Who is God over all. For he that
I!
188
Man teaches, God draws.
\l ;
\:u
I
Hi!
t' 1 :-
Book 2.
c. iii. 31.
* yopy6re-
Supra ver.
26.
is of the earth will speak as man, and will rank merely as an
adviser, committing to his disciples the whole reins of desire
to believe : but He That cometh from above, as God, having
used discourse with a certain Divine and ineffable grace,
sends it into the ears of those who come to Him. But in
proportion as He is by Nature Superior, so much the more
effectually 4 will He surely in- work. And with much
profit does the blessed Baptist say such things to his dis-
ciples. For since they were beholding him surpassed by
the glory of the Saviour, and were now not a little offended
thereat, wherefore they came to him and said, Rabbi, He
That was with thee beyond Jordan, to Whom thou barest wit-
<ness, behold the Same bajptizeth^ and all men come to Him ;
needs did the Spirit-clad, cutting off the sickness of offence,
and implanting in his disciples a, healthful perception on
most necessary points, explain the Saviour's supremacy
over all, and teach no less the cause why all men were
already going to Him, and leaving the baptism by water
alone, went to the more Divine and perfect one, to wit,
that by the Holy Ghost.
j i
% < f
it.
1
ft
■|: ! !
He that cometh from heaven is above all.
This testifieth (saith he) that very great and incompar-
able the distinction between those of the earth and the
Word of God That cometh down from above and from Hea-
ven. If I am not fit to teach, and my word alone suffice
you not, the Son Himself will confirm it, testifying that
in an incomprehensible degree differs the earth-born from
the Beginning Which is above all. For disputing some-
Infra viii. where with the unholy Jews, the Saviour said, Ye are from
beneath ; I am from above. For He says that the nature
of things originate is from beneath, as subject and of ne-
cessity in bondservice to God Who calleth them into be-
ing : from above again He calleth the Divine and Ineffable
and Lordly Nature, as having all things originate under Its
feet, and subjecting them to the yoke of His Authority.
For not idly did the blessed Baptist add these things to,
23.
Christ uses the evidence we best accredit.
189
those above. For that he may not be supposed by his ^tii'st.
disciples to be inventing empty arguments, and from fear
of seeming with reason inferior to Christ, to call Him
greater and from above, himself from beneath and of the
earth ; needs does he from what the Saviour Himself said,
seal the force of the things said, and shew the explanation
to be not as they thought, an empty excuse, but rather a
demonstration of the truth.
But since the other part of the verse runs thus, And
what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth, come we
will discuss a few things on this too. We are so constituted
and habituated, as to receive the full proof of everything,
by means of two especial senses particularly, I mean sight
and hearing. For having been both ear -witnesses and
eye-witnesses of anything, we come to speak positively
thereof. Persuading them therefore to hasten to belief in
Christ (for He speaks, says he, that He knows accu-
rately), he takes again, as it were, from the likeness to
us, that we may understand it more Divinely, and says,
What He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth.
And no man receiveth His testimony.
Not as though no one receiveth the testimony, that Christ
is God by Nature and, sprung from above and the Fa-
ther, is above all, does the blessed Baptist say this (for
many received, and have believed it, and before all Peter,
saying, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living GodJ : S. Matt.
but as having himself conceived of the great dignity of the
Speaker more rightly than they all, does he all but shaking
his head, and smiting with right hand on his thigh, marvel
at the folly of them that disbelieve Him.
;l!
1 < CHAPTER III.
J.' 1
#i
That Christ is God and of God by Nature.
33 He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal
that God is true*
In no other way was it possible to shew the impiety of
them that believe not, except the glorious achievement of
the believers were made known. For by the contrast of
good things is the evil easily discerned, and the knowledge
of what is better convicts the worse. If any then (saith he)
have assented to the words of Him That cometh from above,
' • he hath sealed and confirmed by his understanding, that
! ! truth is ever akin and most dear to the Divine Nature.
■ ! Whence the converse is manifest to them that see. For
; he who thrusts away the faith will surely witness against
: j himself, that God is not true. But we must again take
' j notice, that he removes the Son from consubstantiality
», '" with the creation, and shews by what has been said that He
is by Nature God. For if he that believeth the things
spoken by Him, and receiveth the testimony which He
I gave of Himself, sealed and well confirmed that God is
< ''. . , true; how shall not Christ be conceived of as by Nature
j .. God, Who is testified of as true by the credit of the things
just said? or let our opponent again say how the Divine
I - Nature is honoured, as being true, by our Saviour's testi-
' ) mony being received. For if He be not wholly by Nature
God, he that believeth will not be reverencing the Divine
Nature, as true, but rather one (according to them) the
fairest of creatures. But since, when Christ is believed,
' h * 4>v<t»>i the declaration * of being true extendeth to God, it is I
. i • suppose altogether clear, that He being God, not falsely
so called, Himself taketh honour to Himself from those
who believe.
God the Son God Who giveth.
191
But the enemy of the truth will not (it seems) agree to £ H £? ■ 3 jjv
these words of ours, but will start up strong, not admitting
the Son to be by Nature God : and will say again, Thou ca-
villest, sir, and contrivest turns of many-varied reasonings,
ever rejecting somehow the simple and right sense.
For since the Word of God hath come down from Heaven,
calling out openly, I speak not of Myself, but the Father^™.™-
Which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should
say and what I should speak : and again, All things that I Infra xv *
have heard of My Father, I will make known unto you : or
also, as the holy Baptist averred in the following words,
For He Whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God : Infra
. . ver. 34.
therefore of Him is he saying, He that receiveth His testimony
hath set to his seal, that God is True. For verily is God the
Father true, but thou attemptest to bring round to the Son
what is due to Another.
What then shall we say to these things ? shall we class the
Only-Begotten among the prophets, fulfilling the ministry be-
fitting Prophets, and doing nought besides ? For by whom
is it not unhesitatingly received, that Prophets used to bring
us voices from God ? Then what excellence is there in the
Son, if He accomplish this alone ? how is He above all, if He
is still ranked along with Prophets, and is clad in slave-be-
fitting measure ? How, as though surpassing them in. glory
doth He say in the Gospels, If He called them gods unto whom Infra x.
the Word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken, say '
ye of Him Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the
world, Thou blasphemest : because I said, lam the Son of God ?
For in these words He clearly severeth Himself off from the
company of Prophets, and saith that they were called gods,
because the Word of God came to them, but Himself He con -
fesseth Son. For to the holy Prophets was imparted grace by . . - .
measure through the Spirit ; but in our Saviour Christ it hath Co1 :. *• 19 »
pleased all the full ness of the God-head to dwell bodily, as Paul
■saith ; wherefore also of His fullness have all we received, as ? ( ? pra u
John affirmed. How then will the Giver be On a par with the
recipients, or how will the Fullness of the God-head be reckon-
ed in the portion of the minister ?
192 Christ True who says, I and the Father are One.
ii I.
'Hi-
lt i
lii'i
H- t
Book 2.
c. iii. 34.
Infra xiv.
10,xii.49.
Infra x.
30.
lb. xiv. 9,
10.
Let them then hence consider narrowly, into how great
blasphemy their argument will hazard them. And how one
ought to understand the words, I speak not of Myself, but
the Father Which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what I
should say and what I should speak, will be explained more
at large in its proper time and place. But I think that at
present the objections of our opponents ought to be made a
foundation of piety, and from what they put forth, we ought to
contend for the doctrines of the Church. They then affirm
that the Son has received commandments from the Father,
and says nothing of Himself: but whatsoever He heard,
as Himself says, these things He is zealous to say to us too.
Well, let him hold to this ; for we will agree, since this no-
thing wrongeth the Son> as far at least as concerns the ques-
tion of whence He is ; yea rather it bringeth in a most beau-
tiful ceconomy in respect of the present subject. Therefore
when they hear Him say, I and the Father are One ; He that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father ; I am in the Father, and the
Father in Me : let them receive His testimony, let them set to
thsir seal, that God the Father is true, persuading the Son to
speak what He knoweth accurately ; let them not disbelieve
the words of the Saviour, interpreting to us the things of
His Father.
34 For He Whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God.
The Father then knoweth that His own Son is in Him the
Same by Nature (for this I suppose the words, are One,
signify, and nothing else), and acknowledgeth Him as Son
not creature ; Son I mean of His own Essence, and not
honoured with the bare name of Sonship. For He knows
* rys Mas that He is the Exact Image of His own Proper Self 2 , so that
He is perfectly seen in Him, and depicts in Himself Him
That by Nature Ineffably beamed forth from Him, and hath
in Himself the Son, is again in the Son, by reason of Same-
ness of Essence.
These things, o heretic, by considering, thou shalt release
thyself from bitter disease, and us from trouble in argument
Sent, God the Son's Eternal Generation.
193
Chap. 3.
c. iii. 34.
3 Sk rov
pov, the
meaning
that lies on
the sur-
face.
Acts vii.
34.
Exod. iv.
22.
Jer. i. 7.
and controversy. For He Whom God hath sent speaketh the
words of God. If these words be considered simply 3 , what
will there be of marvel in the Son ? For was not every one
of the holy Prophets also both sent from God, and did he
not declare His words ? And indeed it is somewhere said
to the hierophant Moses, And now come, I will send thee into
Egypt, and thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord :
to the most holy Jeremiah, Say not, I am a child : for thou
shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I com-
mand thee thou shalt speak. What more then is there in the
Son by Nature Who speaketh the words of God, because
He is sent by Him ? He will be declared to us again (it
seems) as a Prophet, and nothing else, in respect of ministry.
Therefore you will here understand hath sent, either in re-
spect of the Incarnation and the Coming into this world
with Flesh : or again you will take it in a more God-befit-
ting and higher sense. For the Father hid not the Son
in Himself, but He beamed forth of His Nature, as bright-
ness from light, after the unspeakable and inexplicable
mode of Divine Generation: which too the Only-Be-
gotten was making known to us, in saying, I came forth
from the Father, and am come. For the Son hath come forth
from the Father into His Proper Being, even though He be
in Him by Nature. And what I came forth there means,
this again the being sent here signifies. The Word then (he
says) That hath appeared and flashed forth from the Father,
in that He is God of God, will use words befitting God : but
the words befitting God are true words, and such as reject
all stain of falsehood. He then that receiveth the testimony
of the Saviour hath sealed that God is true ; for He is indeed
by Nature God.
For He giveth not the Spirit by measure.
Promise now specially keen attention, my good friend,
that with me you may wonder at the sober wisdom 4 of the 4 "#'"
Saints. He said therefore that the Son was both sent of
God, and speaketh the words of God. But he is observed
as far as belongs to the simple 5 force of the words to clothe pov.above.
vol. i. o
Infra
xvi. 28.
104
None but God can give the Spirit.
Book 2.
c, iii. 34.
Acts viii,
18.
6 iruevfia-
tokK^to-
pas
Num. xi.
17.
Him with the prophetic measure, as we have just said. He:
removes Him then in these words from equality with them,
and through this one token gives us to understand, how
great, yea, rather now how incomparable the difference.
For it is impossible, saith he, that they who have received
the Spirit by measure, could give It to another. For never
hath saint to saint been the bestower of the Holy Ghost :
but the Son giveth to all, as of His own fulness. He then
giveth not by measure, nor hath He, as they, some little por-
tion of the Spirit, and this by participation : but since He
was shewn to be the Giver too of It, it is manifest I suppose
that He hath It wholly Essentially in Himself. He then
that hath so great superiority over them, will not speak the .
things of God as one of them, but being God of God, will
pour forth words befitting God.
But it will no how interfere with what has been said that
certain deem that by Apostolic hands the Spirit was given to
some : for we will believe them to be invokers of the Spirit 6 ,
rather than truly givers of It : since the blessed Moses too
was not enjoined himself to take of the Spirit that was on
him but God kept this too in His Power alone, saying that
he must put forth the seventy, and promising to take of the
Spirit that was on him, and put it upon them. For He
knew that it befits God Alone to perform things God-be-
fitting.
m i i
JilJ
CHAPTER IV.
That not by participation are the Properties of God the Father in
the Son, but Essentially and by Nature.
35 The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His
Hand.
For since he had said, that it behoved not the Son Who had
beamed forth God of God, to be able to use words other than
He That begat Him, to wit, true words ; for He Whom Supra ver.
God hath sent, saith he, sjoeaheth the words of God, needs
does he subjoin what is before us, and saith, The Father
loveth the Son. We shall not grieve (saith he) God the
Father by clothing in equal honour Him That is begotten of
Him, we shall not offend Him by crowning with God-befitting
Glory Him Who is Essentially the Heir of the Father's goods.
For He loveth the Son. He will therefore be pleased at His
being glorified by us, and be grieved by the contrary. And
let no one suppose, saith he, that He hath His Own Son
Heir of this one Divine Excellence only. For He hath given
all things into His Hand ; i. e., everything, which is essen-
tially good in the Father, this is altogether in the power of
the Son. For he calleth power Hand in these words, as when
God saith by one of the Prophets, My right Hand hath Isa.xlviii.
spanned the heavens, instead of, My Power. But the Son hath
in Himself the whole Property of the Father,not by participa-
tion, though the Father be said to have given it (for so He
would have an acquired, not a Natural Godhead) but the
Father gives all that is His to His Son, just as a man too
may be conceived to give to the child born of him all the
properties of manhood, or as the fire too may be said to give to
the heat proceeding from it in the way of energy, the property
o2
m
I M
196 Human language weak to express things Divine.
Bo .?. K> 2. of its own nature. In such things, both is the giving no loss
to the givers (for not by division or severance is the going
forth of what is conceived to be given) and the appearance of
receiving is blameless on the part of the recipients. For
only because of the ' whence/ are such things said, and the
offspring are conceived of as being a certain natural quali-
ty, so to say, of their begetters, shewing clearly what
the generator is by nature, and flashing forth the natural
energy of their own source. And these things again are
adduced by way of examples, but God is above them all.
We will not for this accuse human language which is weak,
for the glory of God hideth speech, as it is written. And if
we see through a glass and darkly, and conceive in part,
how shall we not be yet more powerless in the words
through the tongue ? You will then piously conceive,
either that in this way all things are given by the Father to
the Son : or you will take it again of the oeconomy with
Flesh, no longer introducing the giving and receiving in
respect of Natural Properties, but as putting the Son in
authority over all things originate, that you may conceive of
it in some such way as this,
Prov.
xxv. 2.
LXX.
lCor.
xiii. 12,9.
\M ; i
li i
Supra
ver. 33.
i - ■
[: 1
I : f
J!|-
1 ■■ Hh
S. Matth
xi. 27.
Ib.xxviii
18.
The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His
Hand.
Let not the slow to hearken (he says) be bold in speech, at
seeing the Lord of all a Man, nor let him suppose that the
Truth is false, rejecting the due belief in God by reason of the
Flesh. Let him receive His testimony, let him readily set to
his seal that God is true, lest he grieve the Father Which
is in Heaven. For He loveth His Son : and the proof of His
Love for Him, is that authority over all is given to Him.
Which also the Saviour Himself says, All things are delivered
unto Me of My Father, and again, All power is given unto
Me in heaven and in earth. Nor do I suppose that because
of the Son's seeming to receive it, will He reasonably be
predicated by any as lesser : and why ? for He receives when
He became Man, when He humbled Himself for our sakes ;
God the Son He Who emptied Himself.
197
when the Lord was called a slave, when the Son, Who is Ch £F # *•
free, became among servants. For how did He humble
Himself? or how is He said to have descended from His
Equality with God the Father ? Dost thou not in these
things see Him Who Divinely giveth, Him Who Humanly
and as a servant is said to receive what as God He had ?
For not strictly a gift from the Father is that which ap-
pointed the Son to the beginning of Lordship over all things;
but rather a return and regain with the Flesh also of the
authority that He had before the Flesh. For not when He
became Man, did He then begin to rule the creation.
Since to what lowliness would one say that He had de-
scended, if, when He became Man, He then began to have
lordship ? how will He appear in the Form of a servant, if
then at length and scarcely declared Lord of all ? Away
with the absurdity of the reasonings herein. But when He
became Man, then even so begins He to rule, not losing by
reason of His Flesh the Divine Dignity, but mounting again
with the Flesh also, to what He was from the beginning.
But that the things spoken of as Christ's, were but the re-
gain of what He had before, Himself will prove, saying,
Father, glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. Seest thou that He asketh not for a
beginning of glory, but a renewal of the pristine glory, say-
ing this too as Man ? But that because of the Human Na-
ture is it said that all things are given to the Son, he that
is fond of learning will from all quarters heap up proofs
with wisdom, and will be able to understand, but specially
from that most dread vision of Daniel, wherein he says that
he saw the Ancient of Days set on His Throne, and declares
that thousand thousands ministered unto Him and ten
thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. And hereto
he added, And behold one like the Son of Man came withlb.lS, 14,
the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and
they brought Him near before Him, and there was given Him
dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations,
and languages should serve Him. Thou seest how here
is the whole Mystery of the Incarnation accurately delineated
Infra
xvii. 5.
Dan. vii.
9, 10.
198 God the Son receives, the Firstfruits of our clay.
I;-
Book 2. to us ; thou seest how the Son is said to receive the king-
dom of the Father ; shewnto the Prophet as no bare Word a ,
Phil. ii.8. but as the Son of Man (for He humbled Himself, as it is
written, being found for our sakes in fashion as a Man),
that He first brought back to His Kingdom, might be shewn
forth a Beginning and Way to us of Glory into the King-
dom. And as He being by Nature Life did for our sakes
descend unto death after the Flesh for all, that He might
free us both from death and corruption, by His likeness to
us having immingled us as it were with Himself and rendered
us partakers of eternal life : so doth He confashion Himself to
our low repute, being Lord of Glory as God, that He might
Col.i. 18. restore the nature of man to the royal honour also. For in
all things He hath the preeminence, as Paul saith, being both
the Way and the Door and the Firstfruits of the good things
of human nature, from death to life, from corruption to incor-
ruption, from weakness to might, from bondage to sonship,
from dishonour and ignominy to honour and kingly glory.
Therefore when the Son appears to receive as Man what
He had as God, let us no wise be offended but let us con-
sider rather the mode of the ceconomy on our account
and for us. For so we shall preserve our mind unwounded
and unhurt.
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.
Not simply, nor without examination doth the most wise
Baptist testify that to them that believe in Christ is life set
» yt pas forth, as their Reward 1 , but he brings forth to us the proof of it
from the very quality so to speak of things . For the Only Be-
gotten is by Nature Life : for in Him we live and move and
are. But He is introduced 2 into us of a surety through faith,
and dwelleth in us through the Holy Ghost : and the blessed
John the Evangelist will testify saying in his epistles
Hereby know we that He dwelleth in us, because He hath given
us of 'His Spirit. Christ will therefore quicken them that
believe in Him, as being Himself Life by Nature and dwell-
a yvfivbs A6yos, used constantly by was before the Incarnation, before He
S. Cyril to express God the Word as He deigned to clothe Himself with our flesh.
Acts xvii
28.
IS. John
iv. 13.
Christ our Life.
199
ing in them. But that the Son indwelleth in us by faith, CH .$ F 'j'
t> • • • • c. in, 86.
Paul will furnish proof, saying, For this cause I bow my hnees Eph. iii.
unto the Father, of Whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named, that He would grant you according to the
riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His
Spirit; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith .
Since then through faith Life by Nature entereth into us,
how is he not true that saifch, He that believeth on the Son
hath everlasting Life ? that is to say, the Son Himself, nought
else than Him being conceived of as Life.
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life.
Both then (will haply some one say) the Baptist preach
to us another opinion, and corrupt the doctrine of the re-
surrection, saying that he that believeth shall be quickened,
wholly asserting that he that doth not shall not see life ?
We shall not all-, it seems, rise ; his word introducing to us
this distinction. Whither then will that pass away, that is
said absolutely and as it were to all, The dead shall be raised ? l Cor. xv.
What is Paul too about, saying, For we must all appear be- 2 Cor. v.
fore the judgement seat of Christ, that every one may receive
the things done in his body, according to that he hath done,
whether it be good or bad ? I suppose then that he that is
eager after learning ought to be praised, nevertheless most
accurate scrutiny must be made in Holy Scripture. For see
clearly, I pray you, the distinction between the things said.
For of the believer he says that he shall have everlasting life s
of the unbeliever, the word hath a different significance. For
he does not say that he shall not have life : for he shall be
raised by the common law of the resurrection ; but he says
that he shall not see life, that is, he shall not so much as
arrive at the bare sight of the life of the saints, he shall not
touch their blessedness, he shall remain untasting of their life
passed in bliss. For that is indeed life. But to exist in
punishment is bitterer than all death, holding the soul in
the body only for the sensation of sufferings. Some such
difference in life Paul also brings forward. Hear what
he says to those who are dead to evil for Christ's sake, For 3, 4.
200
All rise, not all to life.
!' r '
i*i
I
t .
lilik
lilt.
I i I ■
1-
B ?.?^|* ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God ; wJien
Christ, your b life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with
Him in glory. Seest thou how he calls appearing in glory
with Christ the life of the saints? But what when the
Ps.xxxiv. Psalmist too sings to us, saying, What man is he that de-
sireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good ? Keep
thy tongue from evil. Shall we not say that herein is signi-
fied the life of the saints ? but it is, I think, evident to all.
For he does not, forsooth, bid some to refrain from evil,
that they may obtain the resurrection of the flesh hereafter
(for they will rise again even if they do not cease from evil),
but he rouses them rather to that life, wherein they may
wholly see good days, passing an endless life in bliss and
but the wrath of God abideth on Mm.
More openly by means of this which follows did the
blessed Baptist shew us the aim of what has been said.
Let him who loves to search consider carefully the force
of the thought. He that believeth not (he saith) on the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of Cod abideth on him. But
if it were possible to understand that the unbeliever should
be indeed bereft of the life in the body, he would surely
have immediately added, " but death abideth on him." But
since he calls it the wrath of God, it is plain that he is con-
trasting the punishment of the ungodly with the enjoyments
of the saints, and that he calls that life, which is the true
life in glory with Christ, and the torments of the ungodly,
the wrath of God. That punishment is ofttimes called
wrath by the Divine Scriptures, I will adduce two witnesses,
Paul and John : for the one said to the converted among
Eph.ii.3. the Gentiles, And were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others ; and the other to the Scribes and Pharisees,
S. Matth. generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from
*"• 7 * the wrath to come ?
b S« Cyril seems to have read "your" with the uncial MSS. CDF.
The Son ever knows, does all in season.
201
Chap. 4.
Chap. iv. When therefore the Lord knew how the Pharisees had
heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John
2 3 (though Jesus Himself baptized not but His disciples) , He left
Judcea and departed again into Galilee.
Whence our history proceeds to this point, or from what
commencement the order of the narrative progressing,
introduces the Lord as knowing that the Pharisees had
learnt what they enquired, it will not be amiss (it ap-
pears) to say. For in that the holy Evangelist saith When
therefore the Lord knew, it clearly brings forth a certain
declaration of a subject previously under consideration.
For He knew all things, without any one telling Him,
of Himself, as God, and not at their first coming into
existence, but even before they be, as the prophet testified. Hist. Sus.
But He awaiteth the right season for each, and yields rather
to the order of things, than to His foreknowledge : for this
too was worthy of God-befitting ceconomy.
There being then a question between some of John's 25. pra 1U "
disciples and a Jew about purifying, there was much dis-
puting on both sides. For the one taking the part of their
own master, were contending that his Baptism was far su-
perior to the legal sprinklings and typical purifications of the
others. And indeed probably they were adducing as a
proof of this, that many came to him, and very gladly left
the more ancient and older customs. These again on the
other hand, when the argument was being borne down
headlong by the opposite party, and the force of truth
rushing down like waters, was overwhelming the feeble
mind of its opponents, go against their own opinion, and
against their own will say that the baptism bestowed through
Christ is far more excellent. And now they begin to have
the upper hand, using like arguments for their proof, and
rising up against their conquerors with the same argu-
ments. For they were affirming that many more are
seen going to Christ, and that all men hasten to Him
rather than to John. Whence I suppose the disciples of John
kindled with grief go to their master and say, Rabbi, He lb. 26.
202 Christ illumines the Samaritans, when He, the
i i
il'i
fj'!
HI
Hi
.'» ; ; :
Book 2. l%ai was with thee beyond Jordan, to Whom thou barest
" ' ' witness, behold, the Same baptizeth, and all men come to Him.
The propositions or arguments of the Jews put forth out
of strife, they put forward interrogatively. Hence there-
fore the Evangelist says that the Lord knew that the Pha-
risees had heard that Jesus made more disciples than John,
then that He shunning their lawless jealousy, and keeping
His Passion for its own time, retreats from the land of the
Jews, and withdraws again into Galilee.
4 5 And He must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh He to
a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of
ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.
3 vfityem great readiness of mind and deep prudence 3 ! He
prevents by his answers the things that would have been
asked of him. For some one would straightway have said,
either speaking to another, or secretly reasoning, Why did
our Lord Jesus Christ, in not fit season, give illumina-
tion to the Samaritans ? For once there came to Him
the Syrophenician woman, with tears entreating mercy
for her wretched daughter; and what said the Compas-
S. Matth. sionate to her ? It is not meet, saith He, to take the children's
xv * * bread, and to cast it to dogs. For He did not think it right,
I suppose, to pour forth upon the Gentiles before the time
the grace assigned to them of Israel. And this Himself
lb. 24. made clearer by saying, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel. How then (will one say) did
He Who was sent to Israel alone begin to instruct the
race of the Samaritans, albeit Israel had not yet wholly
spurned the grace ? To such things does he introduce the
reply persuasive with power, to wit, that He must needs go
through Samaria. For not for this reason alone did He
arrange His sojourn with the Samaritans, that He might
preach the word among them, and wholly transfer the whole
blessing from Israel : but since He must needs pass through,
therefore doth He teach, fulfilling the work of wisdom.
For as fire will never cease from its inherent natural
. operation of burning ; so I deem it wholly impossible, that
Very Light, passes through them.
203
the Wisdom of all should not work what befits wisdom. And Chap. 4,
as, while saying that it is not meet to take the children's bread ' ' *'
and to cast it unto dogs, yet to the woman who wept and en-
treated for pity with many words, He cast the grace, not
admonished by another of the season for giving it, but
Himself with the Father being Appointer of it, as Son
and God and Lord : so did He pity the Samaritans too, and
unveiling the Ineffable Might of His God-befitting Au-
thority, He made the illumination of a whole country the
bye -work of a journey.
It were besides strange, that Israel, who was already
mad in folly, and imagining slaughter against the Lord,
should be perfectly loved. But since they do not yet
thoroughly persecute Him, but as yet only in measure,
therefore our Lord Jesus the Christ also doth not yet wholly
strip them of His grace, but doth nevertheless draw off
the blessing by little and little to others. But His de-
parting wholly from the country of the Jews, and hasting to
go into that of aliens, by reason of the cruelty of His per-
secutors, was a threat, depicted on the nature of the thing as
in a type, that they should endure the total loss of grace,
and should dismiss unto others their own good, that is, the
Christ, unless they abstained from their violence against
Him.
6 Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied
with His journey, sat thus on the well.
Having crossed the borders of Judasa, and being now
among aliens, the Saviour rests upon Jacob's well : shew-
ing us again as in a type and darkly, that even though the
preaching of the Gospel should depart from Jerusalem, and
the Divine Word at length hasten forth to the Gentiles, there
shall not be lost therewith to Israel the love to their fathers,
but Christ shall cleave to them again, and shall again be re-
freshed and rest, as in His Saints, preserving to them the
pristine unfading grace. For He loveth to dwell in the
memories of His saints, that He may make Himself an en-
sample to us in this also, and may become the Beginning
If '
204 Christ, the Strength of all, wearied with the journey.
; ; Book 2. and Door of the honour given to the fathers. But being
wearied with His journey, as it is written, He resteth, that in
this too He may accuse the impiety of those that drove Him
away. For whereas they ought to have gained His friendship
by kindly honours, cherishing Him with reverence and fear,
as a Benefactor, they maltreat the Lord with toil and
labours, that He may be true, saying of them in the book of
Ps. xxxv. Psalms, And they rewarded Me evil for good.
Herein then is seen the daring of the Jews. But what
will the Arians again, neighbours of these in folly, answer
us to this, yea rather to whom it would rightly be said,
cf. Ezek. Sodom was justified by thee ? For the one crucify Christ in
the Flesh, but the others rage against the Ineffable Nature
Itself of the Word. Lo, He was wearied with His journey :
Who was He Who suffered this ? will ye bring before us
the Lord of Hosts lacking in might, and will ye lay upon
the Only Begotten of the Father the toil of the journey,
that He may be conceived of as even Passible, Who cannot
suffer ? Or will ye, acting rightly, refuse so to think, and
attribute the charge of these to the nature of the Body only,
yea rather will ye say that the toil befits the Human Nature,
rather than Him Who is, and is conceived of, as bare
ILK!? Word by Himself 4 ? As then He Who possesseth in His Own
iavrbv t^ Nature Power over all things, and is Himself the Strength
of all, is said to be wearied (for do not I pray do not divide
the One Christ into a Duality of Sons, even though He make
His own the sufferings of His Human Nature) albeit He
abideth Impassible, since He became Man, Who had it not in
Him to be weary; so if He at all speak also of things which
we think rather befit man, and not Grod, let us not hunt after
Oypu/icv words 5 , nor, when we most need skill unto piety, be then
caught in exceeding folly, putting the plan of the cecono-
my of the Flesh far away from us, ascending hotly to the
'■ : ,. Very Godhead of the Word, and laying hold with much folly
of the things above us. For if He were not altogether called
Man, if He were not made in the form of a servant, it were
right to be troubled, when one said anything servile of Him,
and to demand rather all things according to what befits
The Word made Flesh endures what is below God. 205
I
:|
God. But if in firm faith and unswervingly we are con- Ch . ap « 4 -
° J c . iv. 6-9.
fident, that according to the voice of John, The Word was Supra i.
made Flesh, and tabernacled among us, when thou seest
Him speaking as Flesh, that is, as Man, receive discourse
befitting man, for confirmation of the preaching. For in
no other way could we know certainly, that He being God
and Word, became Man, had not the Impassible been re-
corded to have suffered something, and the High One to
have uttered something lowly.
it was about the sixth hour.
He shews that opportunely did Jesus rest upon the well.
For the sun pouring down its strongest rays from the mid-
vault on those upon the earth, and consuming bodies with its
unmitigated strokes, it would not have been without hurt to
have gone further, but was more convenient to rest a little,
especially when He would easily have thrust away the charge
of luxuriousness 6 , if the fitness of the season had agreed 6 *>w0««
thereto.
He does not say that it was the sixth hour precisely, but
about the sixth hour, that we too may learn not to be in-
different even about the least things, but rather to try and
practise truth in common things 7 . X o5 <""
7 There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water : Jesus saith
8 unto her, Give Me to drink. (JPor His disciples were gone away
9 unto the city to buy meat). Then saith the woman of Samaria
unto Him,
The Saviour was not ignorant of the woman's coming.
For right well did He know being Yery God, that she would
forthwith be there to draw the cold stream from the fountain.
But when she was now come, He began to get His prey
within the toils, and straightway holding forth the word of
teaching, made His discourse from what was before Him.
The Law appointed for the Jews that they must not be
defiled in any way, and therefore ordered them to withdraw
from every unclean thing, and not to mix themselves up Lev.y.2,
with strangers, or uncircumcised. But they, carrying forward
the force of the commandment to something more, and fol-
': ' 206 Exclusiveness of the Jews.
| \ B ° 01 L 2 n l° wm & most empty observances, rather than the exactness of
it \" ' the Law, nor venturing so much as to touch the flesh of
any alien, used to think that they would incur all unclean -
ness, if they were found having to do with the Samaritans in
anything. To so great an extent did their disagreement at
length advance, that they recoiled from tasting water or food
brought to them by the hand of aliens. In order then that
the woman may exclaim, and that His unwonted conduct
may invite her to ask Who He is, and whence, and how He
despises the Jewish customs ; and so at length the conversa-
tion may come to His aim, He makes as though thirsty*
saying, Give Me to drink. But she said,
How is it that Thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am
a woman of Samaria ? for the Jews have no dealings with the
10 Samaritans. Jesus answered and said unto her,
Enquiry is the beginning of learning, and to those who are
ignorant upon any subject, doubt concerning it is the root
of understanding. This commencement the discourse aims
at : wherefore the Saviour wisely hints, that He accounts of
no value the customs of the Jews.
If thou knewest the gift of God, and Who It is That saith to thee,
Give Me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He
1 1 would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto Him,
Not knowing the Essence of the Only Begotten, sur-
passing earth and heaven, yea rather being wholly ignorant of
the Incarnate Word, the woman was calling Him a Jew.
And profitably is He silent to this, that the foundation of
His discourse with her may be kept. Yet does He up-
lift her to a higher conception of Himself, saying that she
knows not Who It is Who asked drink, or how great grace
Divine gifts have, insomuch that if she had had know-
\ ledge of it, she would not have endured to be behindhand,
for she would have prevented the Lord in asking. He rouses
s " her then by these things to a very earnest wish to learn.
.-. t ; Observe how now too fashioning His discourse skillfully and
' free from boast, He says that He is God, even though the
woman be slow to understand. For inducing her to marvel
God the Son God Who can give the gift of God. 207
at the gift of God, He introduces Himself as the Giver of Chap. 4.
. c. iv. 11.
it. For if (says He,) thou knewest the gift of God and Who
It is That saith to thee, thou wouldest have asked of Him.
But whom would it befit to give the things of God ? would
it not Him Who is by Nature God ?
But He calls the quickening gift of the Spirit living water,
whereby alone human nature, albeit well nigh parched
to its very roots 8 , rendered now dry and barren of all s to7s4i>6-
virtue by the villainies of the devil, runneth back to its vois,
pristine beauty of nature, and drinking in the life-giving ™ ain ~ ootSm
grace, is adorned with varied forms of good things, and
shooting forth into a virtuous habit puts forth most thriving
shoots of love towards God. Some such thing as this God
says to us by the Prophet Isaiah also, The beast of the field 2 o a 2i. m '
shall honour Me, the dragons and the owls, because I give waters
in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My
people, My chosen, whom I have formed for Myself to declare
Mine excellencies. And another of the Saints says that the Jer. xxxi.
soul of the righteous shall be as a fruitful tree, and shall LXX.
spring up as grass among the waters, and shall appear as the Isa. xliv.
willow by running water.
We might heap up, besides those already quoted, many
other testimonies also from the Divine Scripture, whence it
would be very easy to shew, that under the name of water,
the Divine Spirit is often named. But it is no time to lin-
ger here. Wherefore we will swim to other places, pressing
on upon the great and wide sea of Divine meditations.
Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep : from
whence then hast Thou that living water ?
The woman imagines nothing more than what she is ac-
customed to; and by no means understands the force of
what is said, but supposes that like some of those who are
accustomed to work wonders by means of charms and devil-
ish deceit, without a line or other contrivance He will draw
up the water to her from the depths of the well. But she
calls that living water, according to her own meaning, which
has fresh flowed from the breasts of the fountain.
ill
I
m
208 The Samaritan woman awakes unto faith in Christ.
Book 2.
iv. 12-14.
12 Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the
well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle ?
13 Jesus answered and said unto her,
The woman arrests herself, and that as quickly as pos-
sible, being conscious that she had taken up ideas of Him
neither holily nor surely true. For it was not possible
r *N"" that she should not be altogether profited to understanding^
who is wholly enjoying the Divine words. Since then it was
possible that He Who speaks should not be a magician, but
rather a Prophet, and one of those surpassing in holiness, and
had therefore promised to give her the living water, without
the usual means of buckets, or having found water far better
to use from another source, she straightway changes her dis-
course for the soberer, and as it were compares saint with
saint, saying, Art Thou greater than our father Jacob who
gave us this well ? Receive the intelligence of her thought,
from her no longer wondering at His promising water with
out a rope, but speaking only of its quality to the taste.
The Samaritans then were aliens (for they were colo-
nists of the Babylonians), but they call Jacob their father for
two reasons. For as inhabiting a country bordering on, and
the neighbour of the Jews' land, they were taking a little im-
pression themselves of their worship, and were accustomed
to boast of the Jews' ancestors. Besides, it was really true
that the greater number of the inhabitants of Samaria were
sprung from the root of Jacob. For Jeroboam, the son of
Nebat, having gathered together ten tribes of Israel, and the
half-tribe of Ephraim, departed from Jerusalem in the time
of the kingdom of Rehoboam the son of Solomon, and took
Samaria, and built houses therein and cities.
14
15
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but who-
soever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never
thirst ; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a
well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman
saith unto Him,
The woman of Samaria proposing, as a hard question
Christ above man. Apostles wells. Mind of men stronger. 209
and difficult to cope with. Art Thou greater than our father Chap. 4.
Jacob,; the Saviour most skilfully avoids all boasting, not " '
saying clearly that He is greater, yet from the nature of the
actions does He persuade her to approve Him who excels.
Therefore He shews that incomparable is the difference be-
tween the spiritual waters, and the sensible and grosser
ones, saying, Whosoever shall drink of this ivater shall thirst
again, but he that is filled (saith He) with My water, shall
not only be shewn to be superior to thirst henceforth, but
he shall have in him a well of water able to nourish him to
eternal life. Therefore He that giveth the greater, is greater
(saith He) than he that hath the less, and the worsted will
not carry off the same glory as the conqueror.
We must know again, that the Saviour here calls the
grace of the Holy Ghost water, whereof if any be partaker,
he shall have the gift of the Divine teaching evermore
flowing up Avithin him, so as no more to be in need of ad-
monition from others, yea rather, readily to suffice to ex-
hort those who thirst after the Divine and heavenly Word,
such as were some yet living in this present life and upon
earth, the holy Prophets and Apostles, and the heirs of
their ministrations, of whom it was written, And ye shall Isa.xii.3.
draw ivater with joy out of the wells of salvation.
Give me this water, that I thirst not neither come hither to
16 draw. Jesus saith unto her,
Again does she both speak and imagine only ordinary
things, and of the things that were said understands no
whit ; but she supposes that in being released from petty
toils, will consist all the aim of our Saviour, and to thirst-
ing no more does she bound the measure of the grace of
God, not so much as in bare idea receiving things above
the world.
Go call thy husband, and come hither.
Well and not untruly might one say, that the minds of
woman are womanish, and that an effeminate soul is in
them, never having the power of understanding readily.
But the nature of man somehow is apter for learning, and
far more ready for reasoning, having a mind awake to
vol. i. p *
ill
■?>«»■
■ tl.'
H'i!
\h\'y
if! \
j.j !-
I i I r
210 Christ above man : the woman's gradual -progress.
Book 2. wisdom, and (so to say) warm, and of matured manhood.
' For this reason (I suppose) did He bid the woman call
her husband, secretly convicting her as having a heart
most slow to learn, not practised in the words of wisdom ;
yet He is at the same time contriving something else most
beautiful.
17 The woman saith to Him I have no husband. Jesus saith
18 unto her, Thou hast well said I have no husband: for thou
hast had Jive husbands ; and he whom thou now hast is not
19 thy husband: in that saidst thou truly. The woman saith
unto Him,
To whom is it not now evident that the Saviour was not
ignorant that she was bereft of any rightful husband and
that He made the enquiry about her husband who was not,
a plea for making known hidden things ? For He was, He
was thus with difficulty able to help her no longer marvel-
ling at Him as one of us, but as now above man, by reason
of His wondrous knowledge of her circumstances. And
profitably does He approve her saying she has no husband,
although she had had so many; for not the coming together
out of pleasure, but the approval of the law and bond of
pure love make marriage blameless.
Sir, I perceive that Thou art a Prophet.
With difficulty does she brighten up to apprehension, and
that again not yet perfect. For she still calls the Lord of
Prophets a Prophet. But she has by degrees shewn her-
self better than before, in no way ashamed at reproof,
seizing to her own profit the force of the sign and so
going forth from her effeminate understanding, attaining
to some extent to a vigorous mind, and stretching forth
the eye of her heart to an unwonted view of things.
Wherein we must chiefly admire alike the forbearance
and power of our Saviour, who easily remodels our un-
i ?f iv tutored understanding to an admirable condition 1 .
20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye say that
21 in Jerusalem is the plaee where men ought to worship. Jesus
saith unto her,
Conceiving that the Lord is in truth a Prophet and a
Jews and Samaritans. The Father suggests the Son. 211
Jew, she boasts exceedingly of the customs of her country. Chap. 4.
and asserts that the Samaritans are far superior in wisdom
to the Jews. For the Jews admitting too gross notions
of the Divine and Incorporeal Nature, contended that in
Jerusalem alone, or its neighbour Sion, ought the God
over all to be worshipped, as though the whole Ineffable
and Incomprehensible Nature had once for all there taken
abode, and was enclosed in temples made with hands. -
Wherefore they were convicted of being utterly without
understanding, by the voice of the Prophets, God saying,
Heaven is My Throne and earth is My Footstool, what Acts vii -
49 ex
house will ye build Me, saith the Lord, or what is the place Isa. Ixvi.
of My rest? The Samaritans again little remote from the
folly of the Jews, bordering both in country alike and
uninstructedness, supposing that in the mount called Ge-
rizim they ought both to pray and worship, rightly es-
cape not being laughed at. But the plea to them also of
their senselessness was, that the blessing was given in
Mount Gerizim, as we find written in Deuteronomy. This Deut.
question the woman proposes to the Saviour, as some great xxvu ' '
and difficult problem, saying, Our fathers worshipped in
this mountain, &c.
Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming, when neither in Je-
rusalem nor in this mountain, shall ye worship the Father.
He condemns alike the folly of all, saying that the mode
of worship of both shall be transformed to the more truth-
ful. For no longer (saith He) shall a place be sought,
wherein they shall deem that God properly dwells, but
as filling and able to contain all things, shall they wor- Zeph. ii.
ship the Lord every one from his place, as one of the 11#
holy Prophets says. He says that His own sojourn in
the world with a Body is the time and season for a change
of such customs.
Observe how with most gentle leading of discourse, does
He guide the mind of the woman to right conceptions re-
specting the Son, by calling God the Father. For how shall
the Father at all be conceived of, if the Son be not ?
p2
CHAPTER V.
1 1;
hi
Phil. ii.
5-8.
That the Son is not in the number of worshippers, in that He is
Word and God, but rather is worshipped with the Father.
22 Ye worship ye know not what : we know what we worship,
for salvation is of the Jews.
He speaks again as a Jew and a man, since the eco-
nomy of the matter in hand demands now too this mode of
speaking (for Christ would not have missed meet oppor-
tunity) : yet does He attribute something more in re-
spect of understanding to the worship of the Jews. For
the Samaritans worship God simply and without search,
but the Jews haying received through the Law and Pro-
phets the knowledge of Him Who is, as far as they wei'e
able. Therefore He says that the Samaritans know not,
but that the Jews have good knowledge, of whom He af-
firms, that salvation shall be revealed, that is Himself.
For Christ was of the seed of David according to the flesh,
David of the tribe of Judah. Amongst the worship-
pers again as Man does He class Himself, Who together
with God the Father is worshipped both by us and the
holy angels. For since He had put on the garb of a ser-
vant, He fulfilleth the ministry befitting a servant, having
not lost the being God and Lord and to be worshipped.
For He abideth the Same, even though He hath become
Man, retaining throughout the plan of the dispensation
after the Flesh.
And even though thou see an abasement great and su-
pernatural, approach wondering, not accusing, not fault-
finding, but rather imitating. For such Paul desireth to
see us, saying, Let this mind be in each of you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, Who, being in the Form of God, thought
Wokd emptied Himself, shewn in acts.
213
it not robbery to be equal with God ; but emptied Himself, Chap. 5;
taking upon Him the form of a servant, made in the like-
ness of men, and being found in fashion as a Man, He hum-
bled Himself Seest thou how the Son became to us a
Pattern of lowliness, being in Equality and Form of the
Father as it is written : yet descended for our sakes to a
voluntary obedience and lowliness ? How then could the
garb of obedience, how could that of lowliness appear,
otherwise than through deeds and words beneath His God-
befitting Dignity, and having a great inferiority to those
wherein He was while yet bare Word with the Father,
and not involved in the form of a servant ? How shall we
say that He has at all descended, if we allow Him nothing
unworthy of Him ? How was He made in the likeness of
men, according to the voice of Paul, if He imitated not
what befits man ? But a thing most befitting men is
worship, regarded in the light of a debt, and offered by
us to God. Therefore He worshippeth as Man, when He
became Man; He is worshipped ever with the Father,
since He was and is and will be, God by Nature and
Yery.
But our opponent will not endure this, but will with-
stand us, saying: „ Think it not strange when we say
„ that the Son worships : for we do not suppose that
„the Son ought to worship the Father, in the same way
„as we or the angels, for example: but the worship of
„ the Son is something special and far better than ours."
What then shall we reply to these things? Thou thinkest,
fellow, to mislead us, by putting a most noble bondage about
the Only-Begotten, and gilding over the dignity of a ser-
vant by certain words of deceit. Cease from glorifying
the Son with dishonour, that thou mayest continue to honour
the Father. For he that honour eth not the Son, neither Infra v.
doth he honour the Father, as it is written. For what
(tell me) will it profit the Only-Begotten in respect of
freedom, that His worship of the Father should be made
more excellent than ours? For so long as He is found
among worshippers, He will be altogether a bondman, and
£14 As God He is worshipped, as Man He ivorshijipeth ;
Book 2.
c. iv. 22.
S.Matth,
iy. 10 e
Deut. vi.
13.
even though He be conceived of as a superior worshipper,
yet will He by no means differ from creatures in respect of
being originate, but only in the remaining excellencies, as
to men is superior Michael or any other of the holy and
reasonable powers, to whom superiority to those upon
earth seems essentially to belong, either in respect of holi-
ness or any superabundance of glory, it having been so
decreed by the Chief Artificer of all things, God : but
the being classed with things originate, as having been
created, is common to them with the rest. The "Word
then Who is in the Father and of the Father by Nature
will never escape being originate, even though He be said
to worship in a jmore excellent way. Then how will that
which is made be yet Son, or how will the bondman and
worshipper be by Nature Lord ? For I suppose that the
royal and lordly dignity is pre-eminent in being worship-
ped : but the office of servant and slave is defined in his
paying worship. We confess then by being subject that
we hold ourselves bound to worship the Nature which is
superior and above all. Wherefore it was proclaimed to
the whole creation by the all-wise Moses, Thou shalt wor-
ship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. So
that to whatsoever servitude belongs by nature, and what-
ever boweth under the yoke of the Godhead, this full
surely must needs worship, and submit to the garb of
adoration. For in saying Lord, he defines the bond, in
saying God, the creature. For together are they con-
ceived of, and contrasted, the bond with Him who is by
Nature Lord,. and that which is brought into being, with
the Inoriginate Godhead.
But seeing the Son is eternally in the Father and is
Lord as God, I am at a loss to shew whence He can
appear to owe worship. But let them proceed with their
babbling : „ The Only Begotten (says he) will worship the
„ Father, neither as bond nor created, but as a Son the
„ Father." We must therefore take adoration into the
definition of Sonship, and say that it altogether behoves
the Son to worship the Father, for that in this consists
else would the Father too be lowered.
215
His being, even as does ours in being reasonable mortal Chap. 5.
creatures, recipient of mind and knowledge, rather than in
committing ourselves to motions external and impulsive %
and to the mere swayings of will. For if there have been
implanted by Nature into the Only Begotten, the duty
wholly and of necessity to worship, and they so hold and
say, how will they not be caught in naked blasphemy
against the Father Himself? For it is altogether neces-
sary to conceive of Him too as such, since the Son is His
Image and Impress, and whatever things are in exact
likeness, these full surely will differ in nothing. But if
they say that the Son pays worship to the Father in will
alone, they are guessers, rather than knowers of the truth.
For what would hinder others too from saying, fabricating
a hazardous piety, that it was the will of the Father to
worship the Son, though not a worshipper by Nature ?
„ But (says he) fitness itself will remove the Person of
„ the Father, will subject the Son to this, His worship
„ of the Father not unwilled."
What sayest thou, o sir ? Dost thou again bring forth
to us oracles as from shrines l , or Greek tripods, or comest i dUrwv
thou like that Shemaiah the Nehelamite, belching forth out
of thine own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord ?
and dost thou not blush, opposing to us fitness, as though
invincible in these matters ? For dost thou not think it
befits Him Who is by. Nature God, to have the Word be-
gotten of Him God, and that He Whom the whole creation
worships, should be called and be by Nature the Father of
a Son Who is worshipped, rather than a worshipper ? But
I think I say nothing displeasing to the truly wise. But
how shall we define that it also befits that the Father be
worshipped by His Own offspring, when such a conception
as to Both endures so great damage? For in the first
place that which worships not will be neither in equality
of dignity, nor in exact Image of nature with that which
worships. For it worships as inferior, and that not mea-
Jer. xxix.
24.
lb. xxiii.
16.
a ty to?s i)~a>Qiv Kol Kara vovv Kivf)[xacn,
but I should think Kara fiovv was the true reading.
lit
Ik
w
ilii
Book 2.
civ. 22.
Infra xiv,
9.
Gen. i.
11.
Exod.
xxx. 13.
Prov. iii.
gLXX.
216 Either the Son God, or the Father below His creation.
surable by quantity, in respect of any natural quality
(for He That is God or Lord will not be lesser), but as
differing in the definition of mode of being. Then how
, will He be shewn to be true in saying, He that hath seen
Me hath seen the Father ? how doth He say that He ought
to be honoured in no less degree than the Father, if He
be not His Equal in glory by reason of His worshipping ?
Then besides, the Father will Himself too appear to be
in no slight unseemliness. For it is His glory to beget
such as Himself is by Nature : on the other hand it is
no slight disgrace, to have a son of another kind and
alien, and to be in such case as even the very nature of
things originate shrinks from. For they that have re-
ceived power to bear, bear not worse than themselves,
by the ordinance and will of the Artificer of all things.
For, saith He, let the earth bring forth grass, the fruit tree
yielding fruit after his kind and after his likeness. The
Godhead then will be in worse case than things originate,
since they are thus, It not so, but that which was ad-
judged alike to befit and to have been well arranged for
the successions of things which are, this It Alone will
be found without.
Who then, most excellent sirs, will endure you saying,
that it befits the Son to worship His Father ? Bnt when
it has been added to those words of yours, that neither is
this unwilled by the Only-Begotten, and this gratuitous
argument of yours ye fortify merely by fitness ; come, let
us consider this too from the Divine Scriptures, whence I
think one ought zealously to look for proof on every dis-
puted point. The law therefore enjoined the half of a
didrachm to be paid by every one of the Jews to Him Who
is God over all, not as devising a way of getting wealth,
nor contributions of money to no purpose, but imparting
us instruction by clearest types : first, that no one is lord
of his own head, but that we all have one Lord, enrolled
unto servitude by the deposit of tribute ; next, depict-
ing the mental and spiritual fruits, as in a grosser repre-
sentation and act. For (says he) Honour the Lord with thy
The Son told S. Peter that He was Free. 217
righteous labours, and render Him the first fruits of thy fruits Chapes.
of righteousness, which came to pass through the Gospel
teaching, the worship after the law being at last closed.
For no longer do we think we ought to worship with
external offerings the Lord of all, pressing to pay the
didrachm of corruptible matter : but being true worship- Infra ver.
■pers, we worship God the Father in Spirit and in. truth.
This meaning we must suppose to lie hid in the letter of
the law.
When then the Lord was in Jerusalem, the gatherers of
the didrachm were asking of Peter, saying, Both not your s.Matth.
Master pay the didrachm ? But when he was come into i™25. '
the house, as it is written, Jesus prevented him, saying,
of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute ?
of their oivn, children or of strangers ? When he said,, Of lb. 26, 27.
strangers, Jesus said, Then are the children free ; yet lest
we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hoolc,
and take up the fish that first cometh up ; and when thou
hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a stater : that take
and give unto them for Me and thee. Seest thou that the
Son endured not to be under tribute, and as one of those
under' the yoke of bondage, to undergo a servile thing ?
For knowing the free dignity of His Own Nature He
affirms that He owes nothing servile to God the Father:
for He says, The children are free. How then hath He
the worship befitting a slave, and that of His own will?
He who shrank at even the bare type of the thing, how
could He accept the verity? For shall we not reckon
worship as a tribute and spiritual fruit-bearing, and say
that it is a kind of service 3 ? For why did the law join =Aa T pefa*
service to worship, saying, Thou shalt worship the Lord lb. W.
thy God and Him only shalt thou serve ? For worship is Deut. vi.
so to say the gate and way to service in deed 3 , being s^j^
the beginning of servitude 4 to God. Wherefore the Psal- l n™ las
mist says to some, come, let us worship and fall down, pj^[£
and weep before the Lord our Maker. Seest thou how the LXX.
duty of falling down follows upon, and is joined to, wor-
shipping ? than which what will be more befitting a ser-
218
The Son worships as Man.
i ~ !
Hjjf
.Book 2. vant, at least in the estimation of those who rightly weigh
iv. 23, 24. the qualitieg of things, I cannot say.
But if our opponents persist, bearing themselves haugh-
tily in yet unbroken impudence, and cease not from their
uninstructed reasonings on these subjects, let them going
through the whole Holy Scripture, shew us the Son wor-
shipping God the Father, while He was yet bare Word, be-
fore the times of the Incarnation and the garb of servitude.
For now as Man, He worships unblamed : but then, not
yet so. But they will not be able to shew this from the
Divine and sacred Scriptures, but heaping up conjectures
and surmisings of corrupt imaginations, will with reason
S. Matth. hej^ Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the glory of
XXiL 29 " the Only Begotten. For that He does not worship in that
He is Word and God, but having become as we, He under-
took to endure this too as befits man, by reason of the dis-
pensation of the Flesh—; the proof shall not be sought by
us from without, but we shall know it from His own Words.
For what is it that He is saying to the woman of Samaria ?
ye ivorship ye know not what, we know what we worship. Is
it not hence too clear to every body that in using the plural
number and numbering Himself with those who worship of
necessity and as bond, that it is as made in human nature
which is bond that He is saying this? For what (tell me)
would hinder His drawing the worship apart into His own
Person, if He wished to be conceived of by us as a worship-
per ? for He should rather have said, I know what I worship,
in order that, unclassed with the rest, He might appropriate
the force of the utterance to Himself alone. But, now most
excellently and with all security He says we, as already
ranked among the bond by reason of His Manhood, as num-
bered among the worshippers, as a Jew by country.
But the hour is coming and now is when the true worshippers
shall worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father
seeketh such to worship Him. God is a Spirit and they that
worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. The woman
saith to Him,
He is intimating the time now present of His Own Pre-
23
24
25
M
God is Spirit. Messias' coming known. Woman zealous. 219
sence and says that the type shall be transferred to truth Chap. 5.
and the shadow of the Law to spiritual worship : He tells ' '
that through the Gospel teaching the true worshipper, that
is, the spiritual man, shall be conducted to a polity well-
pleasing unto the Father, hasting unto ownness 5 with God. '-> Ikh6-
For God is conceived of as a Spirit, in reference to the em- T7)Ta
bodied nature. Rightly therefore does He accept the
spiritual worshipper, who does not in form and type carry
in Jewish wise the form of godliness, but in Gospel manner
resplendent in the achievements of virtue and in rightness
of the Divine doctrines fulfilleth the really true worship.
We know that Messias is coming, Which is called Christ : when
He is come, He will tell us all things.
Upon Christ teaching that the hour and season will come,
rather is already present, wherein the true worshippers shall
offer to God the Father the worship in spirit; forthwith
the woman is winged to thoughts above her wont unto the
hope spoken of by the Jews. She confesses that she knows
that the Messiah will come in His own time, and to whom
He will come, she does not exactly say, receiving (as is like)
the common reports of Him without any investigation, as
being a laughter -loving and carnal-minded woman ; yet is
she not wholly ignorant that He will be manifested to Israel
as a bringer in of better teaching, finding most certainly
this information too in the reports about Him.
26 Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He.
Not to untutored or wholly ignorant souls doth Christ
reveal Himself, bat shines upon and appears the rather
to those who are more ready to desire to learn, and
travailing with the beginning of the faith in simple words,
press forward to the knowledge of what is more perfect.
Such an one as this was the woman of Samaria also
shewn to us, giving her mind more grossly than she
ought to the truly Divine ideas, but not entirely removed
from the desire of understanding somewhat. For first,
on Christ asking for drink, she does not readily give it :
but beholding Him breaking (as far as one can speak
220
Christ teaches how to teach; kindles
R.'iin.
Book 2.
c. iv. 27.
Supra
ver. 9.
Supra
ver. 20.
Supra
ver. 25.
humanly) the national customs of the Jews, she begins to
seek first the reason of this, all but, by her mentioning
it, inviting- the Lord to an explanation : How is it (says
she) that Thou being a Jew ashest drink of me which am
a woman of Samaria ? But when during the progress of
questioning, she at length begun to confess that He was
a Prophet, having received His reproof a medicine unto
salvation, she added another inquiry saying with zeal for
learning : Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and
ye say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to
worship. But He was teaching this again, that the time
shall come, yea, is already present, when the true worship -
pers, rejecting worship on the mountains of earth, shall
offer the higher and spiritual worship to God the Father.
She attributing the best of all as the due of the Christ alone,
and keeping the more perfect knowledge for those times,
says, We know that Messias cometh Which is called Christ ;
when He is come, He will tell lis all things. Seest thou
how ready to believe the woman was already getting, and
as though ascending a staircase, springs up from little
questions to a higher condition ? It was right then to lay
open to her with now clearer voice what she longed for,
telling her that that which was preserved in good hope
is at length set before her in sight, I that speak unto thee
am He.
Let them therefore who have the care of teaching in the
Churches commit to the new-born disciples, the word of
teaching to be digested, and so at length let them shew
them Jesus, bringing them up from slight instruction to the
more perfect knowledge of the faith. But let them who,
taking hold of the alien and so proselyte, and bringing
him within the inner veil, suffer him to offer the Lamb
with hands yet unwashen, and crown with the dignity of
the Priesthood him who is not yet instructed, prepare for
a mighty account in the day of judgment. It is sufficient
for me only to say this.
27 And upon this came His disciples
The presence of the disciples is the conclusion of His
Samaria. The reverence of the Disciples. 221
conversation with the woman. For the Saviour is at length Chap. 5.
iv 27 28
silent, and having placed in the Samaritans the glowing " '
spark of the faith, commits it to their inward parts to
be kindled to a mighty flame. Thus you may understand
what was said by Him, I am come to send fire on the s ;. L " ke
earth, and what will I, if it he already Jcindled ?
and marvelled that He talked with the woman :
The disciples again are astonished at the gentleness of
the Saviour, and wonder at His meek way. For not after ® ^
the manner of some who are fierce with unslacked reli- <=i)\a.frd.
gion G , did He think right to shun conversation with the uuilZ P v~
woman, but unfolds His Loving-kindness 7 to all, and here- 7 r *>"
by shews, that He being wholly One Artificer, doth not epovlav
to men alone impart the life through faith, but snareth
the female race also thereto.
Let him that teacheth in the Church gain this too as
a pattern, and not refuse to help women. For one must
in every thing follow not one's own will, but the service
of preaching.
yet no man said, What seekest Thou ? or, Why talkest Thou
with her ?
It was the work of wise 8 disciples, and knowing how s e v t .
to preserve their Master's honour, not to seem by their °" r w" a "'
superfluous questions to be going off into strange sur-
mises, because He was talking with a woman, but rather
in reverence and fear to restrain their tongue within their
teeth, and to await their Lord speaking of His own ac-
cord, and giving them a voluntary explanation. We must
therefore herein marvel at Christ for His gentleness, at the
disciples for their wisdom and understanding and know-
ledge of what is becoming.
28 The woman therefore left her waterpot and went her way into
the. city,
The woman now shews herself superior to and above the
cares of the body, who two or three days ago was the wife
of many, and she who ofttimes was easily taken captive by
vain pleasures, now overreaches the flesh of its necessary
Book 2.
c. iv. 29.
9 rbp
Kt)\ov
rpdvou
S. Matth.
x.8.
1 OKv6<pl~
\ov
lb. xxv.
18.
Supra
ver. 16.
222 The Samaritan woman's zeal and skill and example.
want, disregarding alike thirst and drink, and is re-wrought
unto another habit through faith. Forthwith doth she, ex-
ercising love the fairest of all virtues, and neighbourly-
affection 9 , diligently proclaiming to others also the good
which appeared to her, hasten quickly into the city. For
probably the Saviour was telling her, and secretly whis-
pering in her mind, Freely ye received, freely give. Learn
we hereby, not to imitate that sloth -loving l servant, and
who therefore hid his talent in the earth, but rather let us be
diligent to trade with it. Which thing too that much-
talked-of woman well doing, communicates to the rest the
good which fell to her, no longer taking the water which
she came to draw, from its fountain-depths, nor carrying
home her waterpot of the earth, but rather with Divine and
heavenly grace and the all-wise teaching of the Saviour
filling the garners of her understanding.
We must hence learn, as in a type and outline, that by
thoroughly despising little and corporal things, we shall
receive of God things manifold more and better. For
what is earthly water, compared with Heavenly wisdom ?
29 and saith to the men Come see a Man which told me all
things that ever I did; is not This the Christ?
O wondrous change ! O truly great and God-befitting
Might, translucent with unspeakable marvel ! Skilful
workwoman unto doctrine, and initiater is she, who un-
derstood none of the things that were said at first, and
therefore rightly heard, Go, call thy husband and come
hither. For see how skilfully she conversed with the Sa-
maritans. She does not say at once that she has found
the Christ, nor does she introduce Jesus at first into her
account. For rightly would she have been rejected, as
far surpassing the measure of words befitting her, find-
ing her hearers not ignorant of her habits. She first then
prepares the way for this wonder, and having first aston-
ished them with the miracle, makes the way smoother, so
to say, to the faith. Come and see, she wisely says ; all
but crying aloud with more earnest voice, Sight alone
The Samaritans shame the Jews. 223
will suffice to belief, and will assure those present with its Chap. 5.
more note-worthy marvels. For He Who knoweth the
'hidden things, and hath this great and God-befitting dig-
nity, how shall He not speed with prosperous course to the
fulfilment of those things which He willeth ?
30 They went out of the city, and came unto Him.
The obedience of the Samaritans is a conviction of the
hardness of heart of the Jews, and their inhumanity is
clearly shewn in the gentleness of these. And let the seeker
of learning see again the difference of habit in both, that
he may justly wonder at Jesus, departing from the Syna-
gogue of the Jews, and giving Himself rather to the aliens.
For that Christ should come to the Jews, and for what
causes He should be revealed, the law of Moses declared
to us, the all-august choir of the Prophets did proclaim,
and did point Him out at length all but present at the
doors, saying, Behold your God, Behold the Lord ; and Isa.xl.
last of all John, the great among them that are horn of too- s. Matth.
men, did manifest Him already appeared, and dwelling X1,
among us, saying, Behold the Lamb of God which tafceth Supra i.
away the sin of the world ; and (yet more wonderfully than
all) the Saviour was revealing Himself through many deeds
of power and God-befitting authority. What then do these
men unbridled unto strange counsels 2 at last meditate yet ? 2 ol irpbs
They devise murder unjustly, they plot impiously, they &. x d\iZi.
envy stubbornly, they drive forth of their land and city, r^kAs* 1
the Life, the Light, the Salvation of all, the Way to the
kingdom, the Eemission of sins, the Bestower of sonship.
Wherefore rightly said the Saviour, Jerusalem, Jerusa- S. Matth.
iem, thou that killest the Prophets and stonest them which 38.
are sent unto thee, hoiv often would I have gathered thy child-
ren together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her
wings, and ye would not ! Behold your house is left unto
you. But the Samaritans shew themselves superior to the
folly of the Jews, and by obedience victorious over their
innate unlearning, having given ear to one miracle only,
they flock quickly to Jesus, not persuaded thereto by
the voices of the holy Prophets, or by the proclamations
224
The Saviour neglects food to hunt souls.
Book 2. of Moses, nor yet the actual pointings 3 of John, but
3 Sanrv- ' one only woman and she a sinner telling them of Him.
xoScitfan iff {fa reason then, let us too admiring the sentence of the
Ps. cxix. Saviour against them, say, Righteous art Thou, o Lord,
' ' and upright Thy Judgment.
31 In the mean time His disciples prayed Him, saying Mas-
32 ter, eat. But He saith unto them
Most excellently doth the Divine Evangelist manage the
compilation of this book, and omits nothing which he
believes will at all be of use to the readers. Hear there-
fore how he introduces Jesus again as the Ensample of
a most note -worthy act. For I do not think that any thing
has been put in vain in the writings of the saints, but what
any man deems small, he sometimes finds pregnant with
no contemptible profit. The conversion of the Samaritans
being then begun, and they on the point of looking for Him
(for He knew as God that they would come) : wholly and
entirely is He intent upon the salvation of them which are
called, and makes no account of bodily food, although
wearied with His journey, as it is written : that hereby again
He might profit the teachers in the Churches, and persuade
them to disregard all fatigue, and use more diligent zeal for
those who are being saved, than for the care of their bodies.
For Cursed, saith the Prophet, be he that doeth the ivorh
of the Lord negligently. In order then that we may learn
that the Lord was accustomed to go without food at
such times, he introduces the disciples, begging and all
but on their knees, that He would take a little of their
provisions, as inevitable and necessary food. For they
had gone away into the city to buy meat which they had
now got and come with.
Supra
ver. 6.
Jer.
xlviii. 10,
Supra
ver. 8.
* COS TpV-
<prjs
I have meat to eat that ye know not of.
Skilfully does the Saviour fashion His answer from what
was before Him. He all but says darkly, that if they
knew that the conversion of the Samaritans was at the
doors, they would have persuaded Him rather to cling to
that as a delicacy 4 than to nourish the flesh. From this
f
Deep moment of teaching. Word how sent. 225
again we may learn how great love for man the Divine
Nature hath : Tor It considereth the return of the lost unto
salvation as both meat and treat 5 .
33 Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man
34 brought Him ought to eat ? Jesus saith unto them,
The disciples not yet understanding the discourse which
was obscure, were reasoning about what had often hap-
pened among themselves, and descend to common place
ideas, fancying that food had been brought Him by some
one, and that it was perhaps more costly or sweeter than
what had been got together by them.
My meat is to do the Will of Him That sent Me and to com-
plete His Work.
Having wholly torn away the veil from His speech, He
shewed them in full translucence the truth, and forthwith
introduces Himself as a type unto future teachers of the
world, of steadfast and most exceeding excellent zeal,
to wit in respect of the duty of teaching, and on this ac-
count fitly keeping thought for the needful care of the
body secondary. For in saying that it was to Himself
most pleasant meat, to do the Will of Sim that sent Him
and to finish His Work, He limns the office of the Apostolic
ministry and clearly shews, what manner of men they
ought to be in habit 6 . For it was necessary (as it seems)
that they should be strung to taking thought for teach-
ing only, and it behoved them to be so far removed from
the pleasure of the body 7 , as at times not even to desire
the service necessary for the mere accomplishing its pre-
servation from death.
And let this be said for the present, as tending to the
type and pattern of Apostolic polity. But if we must
in addition to what has been said, apply ourselves to speak
more doctrinally, He says that He was sent, clearly by God
the Father, either in respect of the Incarnation, wherein He
beamed on the world with Flesh, by the good Pleasure and
Approbation of the Father ; or as the Word proceeding b
b irpoKvirTwv. This word is used by irpoe\96vra, p. 147. The word that ex-
S. Cyril (above p. 123 and elsewhere) presses the Procession of the Holy Ghost
of the Son's Eternal Generation: cf. is eKTropeueTcu,
VOL. I. Q
Chap. 5.
iv. 33, 34.
5 rpo<p7]V
Kal TpV -
° T7]V
7 rrjs els
crdpKa
rpucprjs
Book 2.
c. iv. 34.
Supra
i. 1.
Ps. lxxiii
24 LXX.
Ps. XXX.
7 LXX.
8 evetyav
Ps.
lxviii. 28
226 Son, Word Counsel Will Power of Fathee.
in some way from the begetting Mind, and sent and ful-
filling His decree, not as though taken as* a minister of
others' wills, but Himself being alike both the Living Word
and the most evident Will of the Father, readily saving
those that were lost. Therefore in saying that it is the
work of Him That hath sent Him, Himself is shewn as its
Fulfiller : for all things are by the Father through the
Son in the Spiritr" For that the Son is the Word and
Counsel and Will and Power of the Father is, I suppose,
evident to all : but it is no trouble to prove it from the
Divine Scripture also. Therefore let any one see that Ho
is the Word in this, In the beginning was the Word and
the Word was with God and the Word was God : let him
see Counsel, in that the Psalmist says, as to God the Fa-
ther, In Thy Counsel Thou guidedst me and with glory didst
Thou receive me : let him see Will again in his saying,
Lord in Thy Will give strength to my beauty. For He
strengtheneth the beauty of His saints, that is, their
vigour 8 unto every virtue, He, the Living and Hypostatic
Will of the Father, that is the Son. That He is Power
also, thou shalt again understand hence, Command, God
' (he says) Thy strength ; strengthen, God, that which Thou
wroughtest for us. Thou seest clearly herein, that by the
good Pleasure of God the Father, His Power, that is, the
Son, was Incarnate, that He might strengthen this body,
which He perfected" for us. For if He had not taber-
nacled among us, neither would the nature of the flesh at
all have put off the infirmity of corruption. The Son then
being Himself the good Will of the Father, perfects d Sis
Worlc, being shewn forth salvation to them that believe
on Him. .
But some one will say to this : „ If the Son is Himself
„ the Will of the Father, what will was He sent to fulfH ?
"for the fulfilled must needs be other than the fulfiller."
What therefore do we say to this ? The giving of names in-
c Karvpricraro ; in Ps. lxviii. 28 to5to eW « bring to full com^eti°n His
t, Karywri™ $ M ?v, "this which Thou work," in the text of the Gospel now be-
perfectedst, completedst, for us/' ^ ing commented upon.
d TeA.€io?, from reAeiatrco avrov rb
\fr>
Human language powerless to express things o/God. 227
deed demands difference in the things signified, but often Chap. 5.
. . , c. iv. 35.
there is no difference in respect of God, and word regard-
ing the supreme Nature rejects accuracy herein. For Its
Properties are spoken of, not altogether as they are in
truth, but as tongue can express, and ear of man hear.
For he that seeth darkly, darkly also he speaketh. For
what wilt thou do when He Who is by Nature Simple
introduceth Himself to us as compound, in that He saith
of them of Israel, And their children they made pass
through the fire, which I commanded not, neither came it %?*• vu -
into My heart ? for must not the heart needs be other
than he in whom it is ? and how then shall God be yeb
conceived of as Simple ? The things therefore about God,
are spoken of after the manner of men : they are so con-
ceived of, as befits God, and the measure of our tongue
will not wrong the Nature That is above all. And therefore
even though the Son be found speaking of the Will of the
Father, as of something other than He, you will make
no difference, attributing fitly to the weakness of our words
their not being able to say any thing greater, nor to sig-
nify their meaning in any other way.
And let these things bo said in proof of the Son being
conceived of as also the Will of the Father ; but in the
passage before us, no reason will compel us to conceive
that the Will of the Father means the Son, but rather we
may well receive it as His good Will to the lost.
35 Say not ye, There are yet four months and the harvest
cometh ?
He again taketh occasions of His Discourse from the
time and event, and from the grosser things of sense
He fashioneth His declaration of spiritual ideas. For it
was yet winter at that time, and the tender sprouting and
fresh stalk of the seed was scarce bristling forth from the
soil : but after the expiration of four months, it was awaiting
its fall 9 into the hand of the reaper. Do not therefore 9 -*Wi.
ye men say (saith He) that there are yet four months, and Trgoarfo-
ihe harvest cometh ?
Q 2
tt
228 Wheat, Prophets' sowing, Apostles' reaping.
i ;
k *
1 TttlV (U
IffToplq.
irpayfxd-
TWV
cf.S.Iren
v. 28 fin.
p. 517.
O.T.
Book 2. Behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the
lv * * fields, for they are white already to harvest.
That is, raising up the eye of your understanding a
little from the affairs of the earth, consider ye the spiri-
tual sowing, that it hath progressed already and whitened
unto the floor, and at length calls for the reaper's sickle
unto itself. But from the similarity to things in actual
life 1 , you will see what is meant. For you will con-
ceive that the spiritual sowing and multitude of spiritual
ears, are they who, tilled beforehand by the voice of the
Prophets, are brought to the faith that should be shewn
through Christ. But it is white, as being already ripe and
ready to the faith, and confirmed unto piety. But the sickle
of the reaper is the glittering and most sharp word of the
Apostle, cutting away the hearers from the worship accord-
ing to the law, transferring them to the floor, that is, to
the Church of God : there they bruised and pressed by
good toils shall be set forth pure wheat worthy of the
garner of Him Who ga there th it.
36 And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit
unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reap-
37 eth may rejoice together. For herein is the saying true,
One soweth and another reapeth.
It is the time (saith He) of the Word calling to the
Faith, and shewing to the hearers the arrival at its con-
summation of the legal and Prophetic preachings. For the
law by typical services, as in shadows did foreshew Him
That should come, that is, Christ : the Prophets after it,
Heb. x. 37 interpreting the words of the Spirit, Yet a little while, were
xxvi. 20. fore-signifying that He was even now at hand and coming.
But since He hath stepped within the doors, the word
of the Apostles will not remove to far distant hope that
which was expected, but will reveal it already present : and
will reap from legal worship those who are yet in bond-
age to the law and who rest in the letter only, and will
2?£ ( „ transfer them as sheaves into the Evangelic habit 2 and
polity; and will likewise cut off from polytheistic straying
The Saviour loves both, gives one honour to both. 229
the worshipper of idols, and will transfer him to the know- Chap. 5.
c iv 38
ledge of Him That is in truth God, and, to speak all in
brief and succinctly; will transform them who mind things Col. Hi. 2.
on the earth unto the life of the Angels through faith to
Christ-ward.
This (saith He) the word of the reapers will effect, yet
shall it not be without an hire : for it shall surely gather
for them fruit which nourisheth unto life eternal : nor shall
they who receive rejoice in themselves alone but as hav-
ing entered into the labours of the Prophets, and having
reaped the seed fore-tilled by them, shall fill up one com-
pany with them e . But I suppose that the most wise Paul,
having throughly learnt the types of things to come, hence
says of the holy fathers and Prophets that, These all, per- Heb. xi.
footed through faith, received not the 'promise, God having
provided some better thing for us, that they without us should
not be made perfect. For the Saviour thought good, that
tho reaper should rejoice together with him who before had
sown.
39, 40.
38 I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not laboured: other
men have laboured, and ye arc entered into their labours.
He at length unveils to them the whole mystery, and
having removed the dark cloak of words, renders most
clear the understanding of His meaning. For the Saviour
being a Lover of the Prophets, and a Lover of the Apos-
tles, makes neither the labour of those to be apart from
the hand of the Apostles, nor does He allot entirely to
the holy Apostles the glorying in respect of those who
should be saved through faith in Him : but having min-
gled as it were the toil of each with their mutual co-work,
He says (and with great reason) that one shall be the
honour 3 to both. He affirms that the Apostles had on- 3 p^on-
LLUXV
tered into the labours of the holy Prophets, not suffering
them to spring upon 4 the good fame of those who pre- 4 ^d\M.
ceded them, but persuading them rather to honour them,
e fiiav <rvv avrois eirn-eAe'<roi/<rj ry]v TrpwroTOKOiv, in Heb. xii. 23-
iravriyvpiv, cf. iravr}y{'pei Kai iKK\r](riq
230
Jews through their conduct lose Christ,
Book 2. as having gone before them in labour and time. That this
will be to us too a most beautiful lesson, who will re-
fuse to admit?
39 And from that city many of the Samaritans believed on Him
for the saying of the woman which testified, He told me all
that ever I did.
Israel is again hereby too condemned, and by the obe-
dience f of the Samaritans, is convicted of being alike
reckless of knowing and harsh. For the Evangelist mar-
vels much at the many who believed on Christ, saying, For
the saying of the woman ; although they who were in-
structed through the law to the knowledge hereof, neither
received the words of Moses, nor acknowledged that they
ought to believe the heraldings of the Prophets. He in
these words prepares the way before, or rather wisely
makes a defence before, for that Israel should with reason
be thrust away from the grace and hope that is to Christ-
ward and that instead should come in the more obedient
fulness of the Gentiles, or aliens.
40 So when the Samaritans were come unto Him, they besought
Him that He would tarry with them : and He abode tliere
41 two days. And many more believed because of His Own
Word,
He explains in simplicity of words what took place : but
prepares again another proof, that Israel ought justly to
be cast off from their hope, and the aliens to be trans -
5 M€TO _ planted 5 into it. For the Jews with their bitter and in-
jioo-xeve- tolerable surmises, spitefully entreat Jesus manifoldly work-
ing miracles and radiant in God-befitting g]ory, and blush
not to rage to so great an extent as to make Him an exile,
and zealously to drive out of their city Him Who is the
giver to them of all joy : while the Samaritans persuaded
by the words of one woman, consider that they ought to
come to Him with all speed. And when they were come,
f einre lOelas- This word seems to in- a(pi\ofj.a6i)s, " reckless of knowing," the
elude also, readiness to believe, as the germ and parent of wilful blindness, is
germ and parent of obedience : to which contrasted.
Samaritans gain Him : the seed left to fructify. 231
they began zealously to entreat Him to come into their
city, and to pour forth to them 6 of the word of salvation ;
and readily does Christ assent to both, knowing that the
grace will not be unfruitful. For many believed because of
His own Word.
Let him that is God-loving and pious 7 hence know,
that from them that grieve Him Christ departeth, but He
dwelleth in them that gladden 8 Him through obedience
and good faith.
42 And said unto the woman,. No longer do we believe, because of
thy saying : for ourselves have heard Him and know that
This is indeed the Saviour of the ivorld.
From the greater things does the faith of the Samaritans
spring, and not any longer from what they learn from
others, but from those whereof they are the wondering
ear-witnesses. For they say that they knoiv that He is
indeed the Saviour of the world, making the confession of
their hope in Him the pledge of their faith.
Chap. 5.
iv. 42-44.
AeveffOai
7 6 <pi\6-
6e6sre Ka\
8 evippai-
vovffi
43 Now after the two days He departed thence unto Galilee.
44 For Jesus Himself testified that a prophet hath no honour in
his oivn country.
He departs from Samaria, having now sown the Word of
salvation, and like a husbandman hidden the faith in them
that dwell there, not that it might be bound captive in the
silence of them that received it, quiet and deep buried, but
rather that it might grow in the souls of all, creeping on
and advancing ever to the greater, and running to more
evident might. But since He passes by Nazareth lying in
the midst, wherein it is said that He was also brought up,
so that He seemed to be from thence and its citizen, and
goes down rather to Galilee ; of necessity he offers an ex-
planation of His passing it by, and says that Jesus Himself
had testified that a prophet hath no honour in his own coun-
try. For it is our nature to think nothing of what we are
accustomed to, even though it be great and of price. And
the Saviour thought not good to seek honour from them,
232
Grace to the good, -woe to dcspisers .
I i
Book 2. like a vain-glorious man and a braggart, but knew well
that to those who have no thought that one ought to
honour one's teacher, neither would the word of the faith
be any longer sweet and acceptable. With reason then
does He pass by, not thinking it right to expend useless
labours upon them who are nothing profited, and thus to
lay down grace before them that despise it. For it was
not reasonable that they who sinned so deeply should do
so unpunished; since it is altogether confessed and un-
doubted, that they will undergo the severest punishments,
who knowingly despise Him and spurn a gift so worthy of
marvel.
45 When therefore He was come into Galilee, the Galileans re-
ceived Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jeru-
salem at the feast ; for they also went unto the feast.
Not without consideration do the Galileans receive Jesus,
but in just astonishment at the wondrous works which they
themselves had already seen Him do, both by their piety
towards Him condemning the folly of the Jews, and found
9 etyvu- far superior in good feeling 9 to those who were instructed
fioavvriv
in the law.
46 He came therefore again into Cana of Galilee where He made
the water wine.
Christ lovcth to dwell among those that are well dis-
byvdi- posed 1 , and to those who more readily advance unto the
perception and knowledge of benefits done them, He pour-
eth forth 3 supplies of greater goods. He cometh then to
work miracles in Cana, thinking it fit to confer an ad-
ditional benefit on those therein, in that He had through
His signs already wrought there, the idea previously im-
planted in their minds, that He could do all things.
And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at
47 Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus teas come out of
Judcea into Galilee, he besought Him that He would come
doivn and heal his son : for he was at the point of death.
48 Jesus therefore said unto him,
The nobleman cometh as to One able to heal, but he un-
Hocriv
^»A.eu€Tot
I I
He That repels death is God.
233
dcrstandcth not yet that He is by Nature God : lie calleth Chap. 5.
Him Lord, but giveth not at all the true dignity of Lord- j j.
ship. For he would have straightway fallen down and be- ver. 49.
sought Him, not that he should by all means come to his
house, and go down with him to the sick lad ; but should
rather with authority and God-befitting command drive
away the sickness that fell on him. For what need for
Him to be present to the sick, whom He could easily heal,
even absent ? how was it not utterly without understanding
to suppose that He is superior to death, and in no wise to
hold Him God Who is filled with God-befitting Power ?
49 Except ye see signs mid wonders, ye ivill not believe,
nobleman saith unto Him,
The
A mind yet hard dwclleth in them who arc deceived, but
mightier will be the more wonder-working power of Ifim
That calleth them unto faith. Wherefore the Saviour says
that they need wonders, that they may easily be re-in-
structed 3 unto what is profitable, and acknowledge Him 3 n*-ra-
Who is by Nature God. a eai
Lord, come down ere my child die.
Feeble indeed unto understanding is the nobleman, for
ho is a child in his petition for grace, and almost dotes 4 4 yp^^a
without perceiving it. For by believing that Christ had \^ v
power not only when present, but that He would surely
avail even absent, he would have had a most worthy con-
ception of Him. But now both thinking and acting most
foolishly, he asks power befitting God, and does not think
He accomplishes all things as God, nor yet that He will
be superior to death, although beseeching Him to gain the
advantage over him that had all but overcome s ; for the
child was at the point of death.
Supra
ver. 47.
50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy ivay^; thy son liveth.
Thus believing he ought to have come, but Christ doth
b The Greek text of these words with a very slight correction the chief
ought to have been edited (following Ms.) to> TrAeio-ry Kpar^uavTa jurpei.
234
Christ healeth the nobleman and his son.
° rais
rnxS>i/ d-
IJ.aQia.ts
Book 2. not reject our lack of apprehension 5 ; but benefiteth even
the stumbling, as God. That then which the man should
have been admired for doing, this does he teach him even
when he doth it not, revealed alike as the Teacher of things
most lovely, and the Giver of good things in prayer. For
in Go thy way is Faith : in thy son liveth is the fulfilment of
his longings, granted with plenteous and God-befitting
Authority.
The man believed the word that Jesus said to him, and went
51 his way. And as he was now going- down, his servants met
him and told him, saying, Thy son liveth.
The one command of the Saviour healeth two souls. For
in the nobleman it worketh unwonted faith, the child it
rescueth from bodily death. Which is healed first it is hard
to say. Both, I suppose, simultaneously, the disease taking
its departure at the command of the Saviour. And his ser-
vants meeting him tell him of the healing of the child,
shewing at the same time the swiftness of the Divine com-
mands (Christ ordering this very wisely), and by the fulfil-
ment of his hope, speedily confirming their master weak in
faith.
ft 1 .
52 He therefore enquired of them the hour when he began to
amend ; and they said unto him, Yesterday at the seventh hour
53 the fever left him. So the father knew that it was at the same
hour in the which Jesus said unto him, Thy son liveth: and
54 himself believed and his whole house. This is again the se-
cond miracle that Jesus did, when He was come out of Judcea
into Galilee.
He enquires of them the hour of the turn for the better of
the sick child, to prove whether it coincides with the time
of the grace. When he had learnt that thus it was, and no
otherwise, he is saved with his whole house, attributing the
power of the miracle to^the Saviour Christ, and bringing to
Him a firmer faith as a fruit of thank-offering for these
things.
Aliens teachable, Jews perverse.
235
Chap. v. After this was the feast of the Jeivs, and Jesus went Chap. 5.
2 up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem the pool which c ' v - 1_4 '
is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.
3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt,
4 withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel
of the Lord used to go down at a certain season into the pool,
and trouble the under: whosoever therefore first after the
troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatso-
ever disease he had.
Not for nothing does the blessed Evangelist straightway
connect with what has been said the Saviour's return thence
to Jerusalem : but his aim probably was to shew how supe-
rior in obedience were the aliens to the Jews, how great a
difference of habit and manners 6 is seen between them. 6 ^ €< ? s
For thus and in no other way could we learn, that by the rpA*«r
just judgment of God Who ruleth all and knoweth not to
accept the person of man, Israel with reason falleth from
the hope, and the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in in
his place. It is not hard by looking at the contrast of the
chapters h to test what has been said. He shewed therefore
that He had by one miracle saved the city of the Samari-
tans, by one likewise the nobleman, and by it had profited
full surely (I ween) and exceeding much those who - were
therein. Having by these things testified the extreme
readiness of the aliens to obedience, he brings the Miracle-
worker back to Jerusalem, and shews Him accomplishing
a God-befitting act. For He wondrously frees the paralytic
from a most inveterate disease even as He had the noble-
man's son just dying. But the one believed with his whole
house, and confessed that Jesus is God, while the others
who ought to have been astonished, straightway desire
to kill, and persecute, as though blasphemously trans-
gressing, their Benefactor, themselves against themselves
pronouncing more shameful condemnation in that they
are found to fall short of the understanding of the
h rrj twv Ke<pu\aia>v avriirapadecrei of the Gospel now in use among us) and
i. c, , the histories of the Samaritans and the history of the Jews contained in this
ot the nobleman (contained in what is present chapter.
the 1th chapter according to the division
236 He leaveth them, but rcturneth ; and will return
Book 2.
c. v. 5, 6,
Ps. xxi.
12 LXX
Rom. xi.
25, 26.
aliens, and their piety towards Christ. And this it was
which was spoken of them in the Psalms, as to our Lord
Jesus, Thou shalt wialce them the back. For they having
been set in the first rank because of the election of the
fathers, will come last and after the calling of the Gen-
tiles. For when the fulness of the Oentiles is come in, then
shall all Israel be saved.
This line of thought the well-arranged order of the com-
pilation of chapters brings forth to us. But we will make
accurate inquiry part by part of the meaning of single
verses.
5 And a certain man was there which had an infirmity thirty
C and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that
he had been now a long time,
The Jews having celebrated their feast of unleavened
bread, in which it is their custom to kill the sheep, to
wit, at the time of the Passover, Christ departeth from
Jerusalem, and mingleth with the Samaritans and aliens,
and teacheth among them, being grieved at the stubborn-
ness of the Jews. And having barely returned at the
holy Pentecost (for this was the next solemnity 7 in Je-
rusalem and at no great interval), He heals at the wa-
ters of the pool the paralytic, who had passed long time
in sickness (for it was even his thirty-eighth year) : but
who had not yet attained unto the perfect number of the
Law, I speak of four times ten or forty.
Here then will end the course of the history; but wo
must transform again the typical letter unto its spiritual
intei'pretation. That Jesus grieved departs from Jerusa-
lem after the killing of the sheep, goes to the Samaritans
and Galileans, and preaches among them the word of
salvation, what else will this mean, save His actual with-
drawal from the Jews, after His sacrifice and Death at Je-
rusalem upon the Precious Cross, when He at length be-
gan to freely give Himself to them of the Gentiles and
aliens, bidding it to be shewn to His Disciples after His
S. Mattb. Resurrection, that He goeth before them all into Galilee ?
But His return again at the fulfilment of the weeks of
Supra ii.
13.
lb. iv. 3.
' Tra.fi]-
yvpis, cf.
supra
p. 229.
to Jews at end of world. Why The Good questions. 237
holy Pentecost to Jerusalem, signifies as it were in types
and darkly, that there will be of His Loving Kindness a
return of our Saviour to the Jews in the last ages of the
present world, wherein they who have been saved through
faith in Him, shall celebrate the all-holy feasts of the
saving Passion. But that the paralytic is healed before
the full time of the law, signifies again by a corresponding
type, that Israel having blasphemously raged against Christ,
will be infirm and paralytic and will spend a long time in
doing nothing ; yet will not depart to complete punish-
ment, but will have some visitation 8 from the Saviour, and
will himself too be healed at the pool by obedience and
faith. But that the number forty is perfect according to
the Divine Law, will be by no means hard to learn by
them who have once read the Divine Scriptures.
7 Jesus saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole ? The im-
potent man answered Him,
An evident proof of the extreme goodness- of Christ,
that He doth not wait for entreaties from the sick, but
forecometh their request by His Loving Kindness. For
He runneth, as you see, to him as he lieth, and compas-
sionateth him that was sick without comfort. But the
enquiry whether he would like to be relieved from his in-
firmity was not that of one asking out of ignorance a thing
manifest and evident to all, but of one stirring up to
more earnest desire, and inciting to most diligent en-
treaty. The question whether he willed to obtain what
he longed for is big with a kind of force and expression,
that He has the power to give, and is even now ready
thereto, and only waits for the request of him who receiv-
eth the grace.
Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me
into the pool : but while I am coming, another steppeth down
8 before me. Jesus saith unto him, Rise.
About the day of the holy Pentecost, Angels coming
down from heaven used to trouble the water of the pool,
then they would make the plash 9 therefrom the herald
of their presence. And the water would be sanctified by
Chap. 5.
c. v. G-8.
8 iiriffKO-
TTl'l
Ilk '
V
K
f
.' u
\k*
cf. Gal.
iii. 19.
238 Why one cured by pool. Christ cures with authority.
Book 2. the holy spirits, and whoever was beforehand of the mul-
c v. 8, 9. . .
titude of sick people in getting down, he would come up
again disburdened of the suffering that troubled him,, yet
to one alone, him who first seized it, was the might of
healing meted out. But this too was a sign of the be-
nefit of the law by the hands of Angels, which exten-
ded to the one race of the Jews alone, and healed none
other save they. For from Dan so called even unto Beer-
sheba, the commandments given by Moses were spoken,
ministered by Angels in Mount Sinai in the days after-
wards marked out as the holy Pentecost. For this reason,
the water too of the pool used not to be troubled at any
other time, signifying therethrough the descent of the
holy Angels thereon. The paralytic then not having any
one to thrust him into the water, with the disease that
holds him, was bewailing the want of healers, saying, I
have -no man, to wit to let him down into the water. For
he fully expected that Jesus would tell and advise him
this.
9 Take up thy bed and walk. And immediately the man ivas
made whole, and took up his bed and walked: and on the
same day was the sabbath.
God-befitting the injunction, and possessing clearest evi-
dence of power and authority above man. For He prays
not for the loosing of his sickness for the patient, lest
He too should seem to be as one of the holy Prophets,
but as the Lord of Powers He commandeth with authority
that it be so, telling him to go home rejoicing, to take
his bed on his shoulders, to be a memento to the beholders
of the might of Him That had healed him. Forthwith
the sick man does as is bidden him, and by obedience
and faith he gaineth to himself the thrice longed for
grace. But since in the foregoing we introduced hira
as the image and type of the multitude of the Jews,
who should be healed in the last times : come let us
ilvivLi)- think of 1 something again harmonizing with the thoughts
hereto pertaining, analagous to those before examined.
Why bed carried on Sabbath: to blame Benefactor, bitter. 239
On the Sabbath day doth Christ heal the man, when Chap. 5.
... c. v. 10.
healed He immediately enjoins him to break through the
custom of the law, inducing him to walk on the Sabbath Jer. xvii.
. 22.
and this laden with his bed, although God clearly cries
aloud by one of the holy Prophets, Neither carry forth a
burthen out of your house on the Sabbath day. And no one
I suppose who is sober-minded would say that the man
was rendered a despiser or unruly to the Divine commands,
but that as in a type Christ was making known to the
Jews, that they should be healed by obedience and faith
in the last times of the world (for this I think the Sab-
bath signifies, being the last day of the week) : but that
having once received the healing through faith, and hav-
ing been re-modelled unto newness of life, it was neces-
sary that the oldness of the letter of the law should be-
come of no effect, and that the typical 2 worship as it 2 aim X-
Avere in shadows and the vain observance of Jewish cus-
tom should be rejected. Hence (I think) the blessed Paul
too taking occasion of speech writes to them who after the
faith were returning again to the Law, I say unto you, Gal. v. 2.
that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing ;
and again, Ye are severed from Christ, whosoever of you lb- 4.
are justified by the law, ye are fallen from grace.
10 The Jews therefore said unto him that was cured, It is the
sabbath day, it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.
Most seasonably (I think) doth He cry over them, Hear Jer.v. 21.
now this foolish people and heartless, which have eyes
and see not. For what can be more uninstructed 3 than Satcaifev-
such people, or what greater in senselessness ? For they T Tepov
do not even admit into their mind that they ought to
wonder at the Power of the Healer : but being bitter
reprovers, and skilled in this alone, they lay the charge
of breaking the law about him who had just and with
difficulty recovered from a long disease, and foolishly bid
him lie down again, as though the honour due to the
Sabbath were paid by having to be ill.
240 Mighty the Healer. Christ an example of flight.
Book 2.
v. 11-14.
if: •»;,
* yopyo-
Tfpav ■ • •
T1/l> O.TTO-
Koyiav
*-KiKpai'
.... T ^ v
eji<pa<Ttv
1 1 He answered them, He That made me whole, He said unto
12 me, Take up thy bed and walk. They asked him therefore
The sentence is replete with wisest meaning and repul-
sive of the stubbornness of the Jews. For in that they
say that it is not lawful on the sabbath day to take up
his bed and go home, devising an accusation of breaking
the law against him that was healed, needs does he bring
against them a more resolved defence 4 , saying that he
had been ordered to walk by Him, Who was manifested to
him as the Giver of health, all but saying something of this
sort, Most worthy of honour (sirs) do I say that Ho is,
even though He bid me violate the honour of the sab-
bath, Who hath so great power and grace, as to drive
away my disease. For if excellence in these things belong-
eth not to every chance man, but will befit rather God-
befitting Power and Might, how (saith he) shall the
worker of these things do wrong ? or how shall not He
Who is possessed of God-befitting Power surely counsel
what is well- pleasing to God ? The speech then has with-
in itself some pungent meaning 5 .
What Man is He Which mid unto thee, Take up thy bed and
walk ? But he that was healed wist not Who it was : for
Jesus had conveyed Himself away, a multitude being in the
place. Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said
unto him,
Insatiable unto bloodshed is the mind of the Jews. For
they search out who it was who had commanded this, with
design to involve Him together with the miraculously
healed (for he alone, it seems, was like to be vexing them
in respect of the Sabbath, who had but now escaped im-
passable toils and snares, and had been drawn away from
the very gates of death) but he could not tell his Physi-
cian, although they make diligent enquiries, Christ having
well and economically concealed Himself, that He might
escape the present heat of their anger. And not as though
He could suffer anything of necessity, unless He willed to
suffer, doth He practise flight : but making Himself an En-
sample to us in this also.
13
14
Christ observes Jit time. The healed good.
241
Behold, thou art made whole : sin no more, lest a worse thing Chap. 5
come to thee.
Being hid at first economically, He appears again econo-
mically, observing the time fit for each. For it was not
possible that ought should be done by Him Who knew no
sin, which should not really have its fit reason. The reason
then of His speaking to him He made a message for his
souPs health, saying that it behoved him to transgress no
more, lest he be tormented by -worse evils than those past.
Herein He teaches that not only does God treasure up
man's transgressions unto the judgment to come, but mani-
foldly scourgeth those yet living in their bodies, even before
the great and notable day of Kim That shall judge all. But
that we are oftentimes smitten when we stumble and grieve
God, the most wise Paul will testify, crying, For this cause
many are weak and sicldy among you, and many sleep : for
if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged : but
when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, thai we
be not condemned tvith the world.
15 The man departed, and told the Jews that it was Jesus Which
had made him whole.
He makes Jesus known to the Jews, not that they by
daring to do anything against Him should be found to be
blasphemers, but in order that, if they too should be willing
to be healed by Him, they might know the wondrous Phy-
sician. For observe how this was his aim. For he does
not come like one of the faultfinders, and say that it was
Jestis Who had bidden him walk on the Sabbath day, but
lYliich had made him whole. But this was the part of one
doing nought save only making known his Physician.
16 And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to
slay Him, because He was doing these things on the sabbath
1 7 day. But Jesus answered them,
The narrative does not herein contain the simple relation
of the madness of the Jews : for the Evangelist does not
shew only that they persecute Him, but why they blush
VOL. I. R
v. 14-10.
cf. Rom.
ii. 5.
Acts ii.
20.
1 Cor. xi,
30—32.
242 False sabbath-keeping . Non-observance of
Book 2.
c. v. 16.
einaio-
TO.TT!}V
S. Luke
xiii. 15.
Infra vii.
23.
S. Matth
xxii. 29.
Josh. vi.
7 ai>v-
not to do this, saying most emphatically, Because He was
doing these things on the sabbath day. For they persecute
Him foolishly and blasphemously, as though the law forbad
to do good on the sabbath day, as though it were not law-
ful to pity and compassionate the sick, as though it behoved
to put off the law of love, the praise of brotherly kindness,
the grace of gentleness : and what of good things may one
not shew that the Jews did in manifold ways spurn, not
knowing the aim of the Lawgiver respecting the Sabbath,
and making the observance of it most empty e ? For as
Christ Himself somewhere said, each one of them taketh his
ox, or his sheep, and leadeth them away to watering, and
that a man on the sabbath day receiveth circumcision, that
the law of Moses be not broken : and then they are angry,
because He made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day,
by reason of the exceeding stubbornness alike and undis-
ciplinedness of their habits, not even to brutes preferring
him that is made in the Divine Image, but thinking that
one ought to pity a sheep on the sabbath day, and un-
blamed to free it 'from famine and thirst, yet that they
are open to the charge of transgressing the law to the
last degree, who are gentle and good to their neighbour
on the sabbath?
But that we may see that they were beyond measure
senseless, and therefore with justice deserve to hear, Ye do
err, not knowing the Scriptures ; come let us taking some-
what from the Divine Scriptures too shew clearly, that
Jesus was long ago foredepicted as in a type taking no
account of the sabbath. The all-wise Moses then, having at
a great age (as it is written) departed from things of men
and been removed to the mansions above, by the judg-
ment and decree of God That ruleth all, Joshua the son
of Nun obtained and inherited the command over Israel.
When he therefore, having set in array heavy armed sol-
diers ten thousand strong round about Jericho, was de-
vising to take at length and overthrow it, he arranged
with 7 the Levites to take the ark round about for six
whole days, but on the seventh day, that is, the Sabbath,
I. I
3
*■'
sabbath under Joshua. Christ co-worker ivith the Father. 243
lie commanded the innumerable multitude of the host to Chap. 5.
shout along with the trumpets, and thus the wall was
thrown down, and they rushing in, took the city, not ob-
serving the unseasonable rest of the Sabbath, nor refusing
their victory thereon, by reason of the law restraining
them, nor yet did they then withstand the generalship
of Joshua, but wholly free from reproach did they keep
the command of the man. And herein is the type : but
when the Truth came, that is Christ, Who destroyed and
overcame the corruption set up against man's nature by
the devil, and is seen doing this on the Sabbath, as in
preface and commencement of action, in the case of the
paralytic, they foolishly take it ill, and condemn the obe-
dience of their fathers, not suffering nature to conquer on
the sabbath day the despite done it by sickness, to such
extent as to be zealous in persecuting Jesus Who was
working good on the sabbath day.
My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Christ is speaking, as it were, on the sabbath day (for
this the word Hitherto must necessarily signify, that the
force of the idea may receive its own fitting meaning) but
the Jews, who were untutored, and knew not Who the
Only-Begotten is by Nature, but attributed to God the
Father alone the appointing of the Law through Moses,
and asserted that we ought to obey Him Alone ; these He
attempts to clearly convince, that He works all things to-
gether with the Father, and that, having the Nature of Him
Who begat Him in Himself, by reason of His not being
Other than He, as far as pertains to Sameness of Essence,
He will never think ought else than as seemeth good to
Him Who begat Him. But as being of the Same Es-
sence He will also will the same things, yea rather being
Himself the Living Will and Power of the Father, He
worketh all things in all with the Father.
In order then that He might repel the vain murmuring
of the Jews and might shame them who were persecut-
ing Him on those grounds whereon they thought good
B 2
244
God works on sabbath. The Son
Book 2.
c v. 18.
.1:
StKUS
Jer. viii.
cf. Prov.
v. 22.
to be angry, as though the honour due to the sabbath
were despised, He says. My Father ivorketh hitherto and I
work. For He all but wisheth to signify some such thing
as this, If thou believest, man, that God, having crea-
ted and compacted all things by His Command and Will
ordereth the creation on the sabbath day also, so that
the sun riseth, rain-giving fountains are let loose, and
fruits spring from the earth, not refusing their increase
by reason of the sabbath, the fire works its own work,
ministering to the necessities of man unforbidden : confess
and know of a surety that the Father worketh God-befit-
ting operations on the sabbath also. Why then (saith
He) dost thou uninstructedly accuse Him through Whom
He works all thing* ? for God the Father will work in no
other way, save through His Power and Wisdom, the Son.
Therefore says He, And I work. He shames then with ar-
guments ad absurdum the unbridled mind of His persecu-
tors, shewing that they do not so much oppose Himself,
as speak against the Father, to Whom Alone they were
zealous to ascribe the honour of the Law, not yet know-
ing the Son Who is of Him and through Him by Nature.
For this reason does He call God specially 8 His own Fa-
ther, leading them most skilfully to this most excellent
and precious lesson.
18 For this therefore did the Jews seek the more to kill Him, be-
cause He was not only breaking the sabbath, but saying also
that God was His Father, making Himself Equal with God.
The mind of the Jews is wound up unto cruelty, and
whereby they ought to have been healed, they are the more
sick, that they may justly hear, How say ye, We are wise ?
For when they ought to have been softened in disposi-
tion, transformed by suitable reasoning unto piety, they
even devise slaughter against Him Who proves by His
Deeds, that He hath in no whit transgressed the Divine
Law by healing a man on the sabbath. They weave in
with their wrath on account of the sabbath, the truth as a
charge of blasphemy, snaring themselves in the meshes of
fr-
God, because God His Father.
241
their own transgressions unto wrath indissoluble. For they Chap. 5.
seemed to be pious in their distress that He being a Man,
should say that God -was His Father. For they knew not
yet that He A\ r ho was for our sakes made in the form of a
servant, is God the Word, the Life gushing forth from God
the Father, that is, the Only-Begotten, to Whom Alone
God is rightly and truly inscribed and is Father, but to us
by no means so : for we are adopted, mounting up to excel-
lency above nature through the will of Him That honoured
us, and gaining the title of gods and sons because of Christ
That dwelleth in us through the Holy Ghost. Looking
therefore to the Flesh alone, and not acknowledging God
Who dwelleth in the Flesh, they endure not His springing
up to measure beyond the nature of Man, through His
saying that God was His Father (for in saying, My Father, Supra
lie would Avith reason introduce this idea) but they deem
that He Whose Father God properly is, must be by Nature
Equal with Him, in this alone conceiving rightly : for so
it is, and no otherwise. Since then the word introduces
with it this meaning, they perverting the upright word-
of truth are more angry.
CHAPTER VI.
That the Son is not inferior to the Father either in power or
in operation for any work but is Equal in Might and Consubstantial
with Him, as of Him and that by Nature.
19 Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily verily I
say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what
He seeth the Father do : for what things soever He doeth,
these doeth also the Son likewise.
j|;-li
■J i
1 aayri-
yzvwv
u
■ !
2 evirdpv-
\ i;
<pov
)»!'
3 5ia(p6pci>s
l'.|i
Hopxov-
fXWOV
What we have spoken of above, this again He interprets
in another way, from all quarters snaring 1 the hearers unto
finding of the truth. For the word which was not re-
ceived at first, by reason of the weakness of them that
could not understand, He re-forms in another way, and
going through the same thoughts introduceth it manifoldly.
For this too is the work of the virtue that befits a teacher,
namely not to make his word rapid and speeding beyond
the knowledge of the pupils, but carefully wrought 3 and
diversely fashioned 3 and that by frequent change of expres-
sion strips off the difficulties in the things under considera-
tion. Mingling then human with Divine, and forming one
discourse of both, He as it were gently sinks the honour
befitting the Only-Begotten, and raises the nature of man ;
as being at once Lord and reckoned among servants, He
says, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but ivhat He
seeth the Father do : for what things soever He doeth, these
doeth also the Son liliewise. For in that He is able to do
without distinction the works of God the Father and to
work alike with Him That begat Him, He testifieth the
identity of His Essence. For things which have the same
nature with one another, will work alike : but those whose
mode of being is diverse, their mode of working too will
The Son cannot do counter to His Nat
arc.
247
be in all respects not the same. Therefore as Very God of
Very God the Father, He says that He can do these things
equally with Him ; but that He may appear not only Equal
in Power to the Father, but likeminded in all things, and
having in all things the Will One with Him, He saith
that He can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the
Father do.
Just as though He should say distinctly to those who
aro trying to persecute Him for healing a man on the
Sabbath day, Ye deem the honour of the Sabbath broken,
but I would not have done this, had I not seen My Father
do the like; for He worketh for the good order of the
world on the Sabbath too, even though through Me. It
is then impossible (saith He) that I, the Son of Him by
Nature, should not wholly in all things work and will the
works of the Father, not as though I received from with-
out by being taught the exemplar of action, or were called
by a deliberate motion to will the same with the Father,
but by the laws of Uncreated Nature I mount up to Equal
Counsel and Action with God the Father. For the being
able to do nothing of Himself, is excellently well defined
hdrein. And thus I deem that piously minded we ought
to bring into captivity everg thought to the obedience of
Christ, as it is written.
But perchance the opposer of the truth will disbelieve,
and will make what is said the food so to say of his own
ill counsel saying : " If the Son were Equal to the Father,
„ attributing to Him no Preeminence as of necessity, by
„ reason of the inferiority of His Own Nature, what in-
„ duced Him so unconccaledly 4 to say, that He could do
„ nothing of Himself but ivhat He seeth the Father do? For
„ clearly (saith he) does He herein confess that He can do
„ nothing at all of Himself, as knowing Him that is the
„ Better and superior to Himself. But do thou again refute
„ our argument."
What then is to be said to these things by us ? Bold
unto blasphemy is the enemy of Christ and drunken with
folly he perceives it not. For one must, most excellent sir,
Chap. 6.
c. v. 19.
2 Cor.
x. 5.
4 aKara-
KaKvirrws
s. s
i
248
The Son Equal Who does equal works
Book. 2. test accurately the force of what has been said, and not
c. v. 19. J . . '
dash offhand to reasonings springing from unlearning.
For to what kind of equality with the Father dost thou
deem it right to bring down the Son, by reason of His
saying that He can do nothing of Himself, but ivhat He
seeth the Father do ? Is it as not having Equality in Power
that He says these things, although from the very passage
under consideration one may see that the Son is Equal in
Power with the Father, rather than inferior in God-befitting
Might ? For plainly He does not say, The Son can do
nothing of Himself, except He receive Power of the Father
(for this would be the part of one really weak) but, hut
what He seeth the Father do. But that by the sense of
seeing, we are not usually called to be powerful, but to
look at something, I suppose no one will dispute. The
Son then in saying that He looketh on the works of His
Father doth not shew Himself impotent, but rather a zeal-
ous Imitator, or Beholder : and how, shall be more accu-
rately spoken of in what follows. But that through His
exact and likest working, I mean in all things, He is
shewn to have Equality in Power, Himself will clearly
teach below, adding as of His Father, for what things soever
He doeth, these (saith He) doeth also the Son likewise. How
then is He inferior, Who is Eminent in equal workings
with God the Father ? for will the offspring of fire work
ought different from fire, any change being seen in its
work ? how could it be so ? How then will the Son
work in like manner with the Father, if by reason of
having inferiority He come short of equal Might with
Him?
And these things were taken from the words at present
under comment. But let us consider, going through
other considerations also, whether the Nature of the Son
admits any law of inferiority to that of the Father. Let
the consideration of Power also be before us. Do they
15 o.xt)6iv6v confess that the Son is God of God by Nature and verily 5
and of the actual Essence of the Father; or do they say in-
deed that He is God, but blasphemously add, that He is
Km ! '
I!' !
■if inferior, the Godhead admits -weakness. 249
outside of the Essence of the Father ? If then they say that Chap. 6.
lie is not of the Essence of the Father, He will neither be
God by Nature, nor Very Son. For that which is not of
God by nature, neither ought it at all to be conceived of as
by nature God, nor yet Son if it be not begotten of the
Essence of the Father, but they are bringing in privily 6 to ™£j t<ra "
us some bastard and new god. If they do not say this,
blushing at the absurdity that is in their own doctrines,
but will grant that the Only-Begotten is truly of the Fa-
ther, and is God by Nature and Verily : how will He be
inferior to the Father, or how powerless to ought, and
this not accuse the Essence of Him Who begat Him ? For
if it be possible that He Who is by Nature God should at
all be impotent, what is to hinder the Father from being
in the same case, if the Divine and Ineffable Nature once
has the power of being so, and is already so manifested
in the Son, according to their account ? Hence then nei-
ther will the Divinity be Impassible, nor will It remain in
sameness 7 and Bliss wholly Unchangeable. But who (tell 7 TnuT0 '-
me) will endure them that hold such opinions ? Who
when the Scripture crieth aloud that the Son is the Lord p «- xxiv.
of Hosts, will not shudder to say, that He must needs be
strengthened, and is imperfect in that which of right is His
alone with the Father and Holy Ghost ?
But our opponent will say again, „We say, that the Fa-
,, ther surpasses the Son in this. For the One is the
„ First Beginner of works 8 , as having Perfection both in 8 ™*/
,, Power and in the knowledge of all things: but the Son ^p "a Tap .
,, becomes first a spectator then a worker by receiving KTlK0S
,, into Himself the imitation of the Father's working, in
„ order that through the similarity of works, He too might
„ be thought to be God. For this He teacheth us, saying
„ that He can do nothing of Himself but what lie seeth the
„ Father do."
What art thou saying, thou all-daring ? doth the Son
receive into Himself the types of the Father's Working,
that thereby lie may be thought to be God ? By learning
then will He be God, not by Nature. As in us is (it may
250 God Whom angels ivorship. Demonstration
Book 2.
c. v. 19.
n
S. Matth,
iv. 10 e
Deut.
\i. 13.
Mai. Hi.
6.
Ps. cii.
27.
* tlKCLW-
TO.TOV
Trpdy/xa-
TOS iltl-
TijSeurij*'
be) knowledge and art, so is in Him the Dignity, and He
is rather an Artificer of the works of Deity than Very God :
yet is He (I suppose) altogether other than the art that is
in Him, though it be God-befitting. Him then that has
passed forth of the boundaries of the Godhead, and has his
glory in the art alone, how do angels in Heaven worship
Him, we too worship without blame, albeit the Holy Scrip-
ture admonisheth us that we ought not to serve any apart
from Him Who is truly God ? for it says, Thou shalt ivor-
ship the Lord thy God and Him only shalt thou serve. Yet
the holy multitude of Angels in particular erred not from
what is befitting, but they worship the Son and serve Him
with us, acknowledging Him to be God by Nature, and not
by learning, as those babbling say : for they perceive not
(it seems) into how great absurdities they will thence fall.
For in the first place the Son will admit change and varia-
tion as from the less to the greater, albeit Himself saith
through the Prophet, Behold, behold I am, and change not.
The Psalmist too will surely lie in the spirit, crying out to
the Son, But Thou art the Same. For He awaiteth, as
those say, the Father's working at something, as a Guide
and Teacher, that He may see and imitate. ' Then how will
not such an one appear to mount up from ignorance of
certain things unto knowledge thereof, and to turn from
worse to better, if we reckon that knowledge of any thing
good is better than not knowing it ?
Next, what additional absurdity is herein beheld ? Let
them tell us who introduce God as an Instructer rather
than a Father, Doth the Son await the sight of His Fa-
ther's works in ignorance of them, or having most perfect
knowledge of them ? If then they say that He awaits
though He knows them, they clearly shew that He is doing
something very superfluous, and the Father practising a
most idle thing 9 : for the One, as though ignorant looks
at what He knows perfectly, the Other attempts to teach
One Who knows : and to whom is it not evident, that such
things incur the charge of the extremest absurdity ? But
perchance they will not say this ; but will go over to the
ad absurdum. The Spirit His : lie God or compound. 251
opposite alternative. For they will affirm that He await- Chap. 6.
eth of necessity the Father working in order to learn by
seeing. How then doth He know all things before they Hist,
were ? or how will He be true saying of Himself, Am / 'a jer.'xxiii.
God at hand, saith the Lord, and not a God afar off? Shall ^ xxx y #
ought be hidden from Me ? But how is it not absurd and 27 LXX «
unlearned to believe that the Spirit searcheth and know- iCor.H.
eth the deep things of God, and to suppose that the Giver
of the Spirit is in ignorance of the works of the Father
and of His own Spirit, so as to come short in knowledge ?
For will not the Son at length lose His being Wisdom,
if He be wholly ignorant and receive by learning ? for
He will be a recipient of wisdom, rather than Wisdom It-
self by Nature. For wisdom is that which maketh wise,
not that which is formed to become wise, just as light too
is that which enlightfeneth, not that which is formed to re-
ceive light. Therefore is He again other than the wisdom
which is in Him, and in the first place He is not Simple,
but compounded of two : next besides this, He will also
lose the being God, I mean God by Nature and Essentially.
For the Divine Nature endureth not the being taught
by any at all, nor the duplication of composition, seeing
It hath as Its Proper Good the being both Simple and All-
Perfection. And if the Son be not God by Nature, how
doth He both work and do things befitting God Alone? will
they say that it suffices for Him unto God-befitting Power,
only to see the Father working, and by the mere sight
does He attain to being by Nature God, and to being able
to do such things as He That sheweth Him doth? There
is therefore nothing to hinder, but that many others too
should be manifested to us as gods, if the Father be will-
ing to shew them too the mode of His works, and the
excellence of the Father's Essence will consist in learning
something over and above 1 . For He that was taught (as ^epirrbii
those say) is found to have mounted up to the dignity of
the God-head by Nature, saying, I" and My Father are Infra x.
One, He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. '
Let them weigh then how great a crowd of blasphemies
252
God by Nature, yet Man too. Different
Book 2.
c. v. 19.
IN
i
2 rb rov
\6yov
Ke(f>dXa.i-
ov, the
chapter
3 Spi/nuTt-
pcas,
keener
is heaped up by them, from their choosing so to think,
and let them think truly of the Son as it is written. For
neither by contemplation of what is performed by the Fa-
ther, nor yet by having Him as antecedent to Himself in
actions, is the Son a Doer or Wonder-worker, and by reason
hereof God: but because a certain law of Nature carries Him
to the Exact Likeness of Him who begat Him, even though
it shine forth and is manifested through the unceasing
likeness of Their Works. But setting before us again,
if you please, the verse 3 , and testing it with more dili-
gent 3 scrutiny, let us consider accurately, what is the
force of the words and let us now see how we must think
with piety. Therefore,
Verily verily I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of
Himself but what He seeth the Father do : for what things soever
He doeth, these doeth also the Son likewise.
'! 'H k
Thou seest how through the exact likeness too in the
works, He sheweth Himself like in all things to the Father,
that thereby He may be shewn to be Heir of His Essence
also. For in that He must of necessity and incontroverti-
bly be conceived of as being God by Nature, Who hath Equal
4 «" e P7 e '- working 4 with God the Father, the Saviour says thus.
But let no one be offended, when He says economical^
that He can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth the
Father do. For in that He was now arrayed in the form of
the servant and made Man by being united to flesh, He
b 8id\e£it> did not make His discourse 5 free, nor altogether let loose
unto God-befitting boldness, but used rather at times by
an economy such discourse as befits alike God and Man.
For He was really both in the same.
And this is one true word, but I think one ought again
to explain what is before us in another way too, and
to apply more keenly to the accurate meaning of the pas-
sage. The Son (it says) can do nothing of Himself but what
He seeth the Father do. The word cannot, or impossi-
bility, is predicated of certain things, or is applied to cer-
tain of things that are. For this being predicated we
Mi
meanings of cannot. All which the Father, the Son too. 253
say is not indicative at all of necessity, nor of weakness; Chap. g.
but often denotes the stability of natures and the im- c - v - ly -
moveable condition of essences, in respect of what each
thing mentioned either is or has been, and of what it
can effect by nature and without change. But let our
argument, if you please go through demonstration also.
When for instance a man says that he cannot carry a
piece of wood, immeasurable c perhaps and heavy, he 6 awr, X v.
predicates his innate weakness : but when another says, conje"
I being by nature a reasonable man, and born of a fa- £^j s
ther by nature reasonable, cannot do anything my own
and of myself, which I do not see belonging to the na-
ture of my parent; the words "I cannot" express the
stability of essence, and its inability to change into any
thing but what it is. For (says he) I cannot of myself
be not a reasonable creature, strengthened by increases ac-
cruing to me by nature : for I do not see the power of
doing this in the nature of my father. In this way then
you may hear Christ saying, The Son can do nothing of
Himself but what He seeth the Father do. For do not
(saith He) blame the works of the Son : for He behold-
ing, as in His Proper Thoughts or Natural Motions 7 , the \ &s i v
Essence of Him That begat Him ; what things He seeth iJZL s
That Nature befittingly work, these He doeth and none *™$ v -
other, not being able to suffer ought contrary to His Na- ""fa*™
ture, by reason of His being of It. Thus, the Nature
of the Father hath the Will to compassionate : the Son
seeing this inherent therein, is Compassionate as being
of Him by Nature, not being ^able to be Other than what
It is. For He hath of the Father, as Essence, so the good
things too of the Essence, simply that is and uncompound
as God, therefore He wisely subjoins to the former words
For what things soever He doeth, these doeth also the Son like-
wise : in these words collecting, so to say, the whole mean-
ing of His being able to do nothing of Himself hut what He
seeth the Father do. But by considering the cause why
the Son says these things, you will apply your mind more
accurately to the things spoken by us.
'254 Of Both the works the same, Father not antecedent.
X
Book2.
c. v. 20.
Supra
ver. 17.
Kaivo-
TOjj.rjffa.1
M irpoKa-
rapKTiKbv
tu>v epyiov
1 Sifa/uiv
airacTiv
evepyrjTt-
2 £ic<j>av-
riichv
3 iSiKijy
When then He on the sabbath day was compassionating'
the paralytic, the Jews began trying to persecute Him : but
Christ shames them, shewing that Cod the Father hath
mercy on the sabbath day. For He did not think He ought
to hinder what things were tending to our salvation. And
indeed He said at the beginning, My Father worketh hither-
to, and I ivorh. But when they of their great ill-counsel
shewed that they were vexed at these things, He subjoins
again The Son can do nothing of Himself but what He seeth
the Father do : for what things soever He doeth, these doeth
also the Son likewise. For since (saith He) the' Father re-
fuseth not to have mercy on the sabbath day, I, seeing
that He is altogether full of compassion, am therefore My-
self too wholly compassionate, not able to cut out anew 8
in Myself the Essence of My Father, through not appear-
ing and being such as He is by Nature. For I wholly
work what is His, as being of Him.
But the saying that the Father is antecedent in the
works 9 , is not free from the deepest unlearning. For how
should He ever of Himself and alone begin, Who has the
Son as the operative Power for all things l , Eternally
with Him, the Exponent 2 of His Will as to ought and
of His motion to operation in respect of ought. But if
they uninstructedly assert that He awaits the Separate 3
Operation of the Father for each several work, in order to
imitate equally, let them shew us that the Father wrought
anything separately 4 and of Himself, or what paralytic He
having first healed, hath given the deed as a pattern to
His Son.
mi
5 a<pv\d-
KTUS
20 For the Father loveth the Son
Those who were heedlessly 5 blaspheming against Him
by reason of the sabbath, Christ convicts of being foolishly
exasperated to empty anger, making most clear proof of
the matter by saying that He is loved by His Father. For
if the Father wholly loveth the Son, it is plain that He loves
Him not as grieving Him, but rather as gladdening Him
in what He does and works. Vainly then do they perse-
The Father's Love in Perfect sameness of the Son. 255
6 iSla
cute Him Who refuseth not to shew mercy on the sabbath, Chap. 6.
. c. v. 20.
and hereby again are they found opposing the decrees of
God the Father. For they think they ought to hate Him
Whom He loves, but it is altogether (I suppose) manifest,
that He would never have loved Him if He had gone con-
trary to the Will of His Father, and been accustomed to do
of Himself 6 and Alone whatsoever Himself willed. But
since He justly loves, He approves, it is plain, and agrees
to the breaking of the sabbath, and shews that it has no-
thing in respect of which God the Lord of the LaAV might
reasonably be angry.
and shcweth II hn all things that Himself doeth ;
Needs does He subjoin this too to the preceding; and
wherefore, I will say. Fathers who are among us, some-
times overcome by natural affection, bear with their sons
grieving them, and seeing them attempt things against .
their judgment, they often suffer it. For vehement is the
yearning love 7 implanted in them in respect of their chil- 7 tt&Qos
dren persuading 1 them to overcome all littleness of soul 8 8 , m<*p<>-
towards them. But not thus (saith He) does God the
Father love the Son, for He cannot do anything which
He too does not work by Nature, bnt as having One Es-
sence with Him, He is called by certain Physical laws,
so to say, to identical Will and Power. The Son then
(saith He) worketh nothing contrary to what is pleasing
or fitting to the Father, nor does He vaunt Himself in
the love of the Father 9 , as though a lover of novelty in 9 Tys rod
His works and unbridled, but whatsoever things He sees aydirqs
Him doing, as in conception, all these He performeth re- ™™forai
strained by Identity of Essence from falling aside in ought
that is befitting God. For He hath no part with change in
ought, or variableness : for He remaineth the Same un- £f • cii -
ceasingly, as the Psalmist says. The Father again shcweth
the Son what He Himself doeth, not as though setting be-
fore Him things depicted on a tablet, or teaching Him as
though ignorant (for He knoweth all things as God) : but
depicting Himself wholly in the Nature of His Offspring,
256 Their knowledge One of Other : Each works on sabbath.
Book 2.
g . v. 20.
S. Luke
x. 22.
Infra xiv,
11.
and shewing in Him His Own Natural Properties in order
that from what Properties Himself is and is manifested.
He may know of what kind and Who He is by nature That
begat Him. Therefore Christ says, that no man knoweih
Who the Son is but the Father, and Who the Father is, bid
the Son. For the accurate knowledge of each is in Both,
not by learning, but by Nature. And God the Father
seeth the Son in Himself, the Son again seeth the Father
in Himself. Therefore He saith, I am in the Father and
the Father in Me. But "to see" and "to be seen" must
here be conceived of after a Divine sort.
Supra
ver. 18.
Supra
ver. 5.
And greater works than these will He shew Him, that ye may
marvel.
Above the blessed Evangelist says, The Jews were seeking
to kill Jesus, because He was not only breaking the sabbath,
but saying also that God was His Father, making Himself
Equal with God. He therefore put down the accusation
respecting the sabbath, by shewing that the Father Him-
self worked on the sabbath day, and expending many
words thereupon : and endeavours to teach them that He
is in Equality with the Father, even when made Man for
our sakes (for this was what the argument yet lacked),
and therefore does He say And greater ivorks than these
will He shew Him that ye may marvel. And what again
does He will to shew us hereby?
The paralytic (it says) has been healed, which had an in-
firmity thirty and eight years. And marvellous indeed the
Power of Him That healed him, God-befitting exceedingly
the Authority. This so great Wonderworker, no one (I
suppose) in his senses would blame for saying that He is
God, and since He is Son, Equal in all things to Him That
begat Him. But since ye (He says) imagining things
most wicked and foolish, are offended because of this
mortal Body, ye must needs learn that My Authority and
Power stop not here : for ye shall be, even though ye
will it not, spectators of greater wonders, to wit of the
resurrection of the dead, and yet more shall ye be as-
The Son God Who does the works of Godhead. 257
tonished, seeing Power and Glory befitting God, in Me Chap. 6
Whom now ye charge with blasphemy and are not ashamed °' v ' 21,
to persecute, for merely saying, I am the Son of God. Infra x.
38
But how God the Father shews His Works to the Son, Supra p.
we have already said at much length. 253—255.
21 For as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them,
so the Son too quickeneth whom He will.
See again in these words clear proof of His Equality.
For He That worketh equally in respect of the reviving of
the dead, how can He have inferiority in ought ? or how
shall He be of another nature and alien to the Father
Who is radiant with the Same Properties ? For the Power
of quickening, which is in the Father alike and the Son,
is a Property of the Divine Essence. But the Father
doth not again separately and of Himself quicken some,
the Son some separately and apart : for the Son having in
Himself by Nature the Father, the Father doth all things
and worketh. all things through the Son. But since the
Father hath the Power of quickening in His Own Nature,
as also Himself too, He attributes the Power of quicken-
ing the dead as though accruing to each separately.
VOL. I.
I
»i:f- »!«
IW;
Ps
CHAPTER VII.
That nought of God-befitting Dignities or Excellences is in the
Son, by participation, or from without.
22 For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath com-
mitted all judgment unto the Son.
He introduceth another God-befitting and marvellous
thing, in many ways persuading them that He is God
by Nature and Verily. For to what other would it be-
fit to judge the world, save Him Alone Who is God
over all. Whom too the Divine Scriptures call to this, say-
.. ing in one place, Arise, God, judge the earth, in another
Ps. lxxv. again, For Ood is the Judge, He putteth down one and setteth
1' up another. But He says that judgment has been given.
Him by the Father, not as being without authority hereto,
but economically as Man, teaching that all things are
more suitably referred to the Divine Nature, whereto Him-
self too being not external, in that He is Word and ' God,
1 otKodw hath inherently 1 authority over all; but in that He is made
ICor. iv. Man, to whom it is said, What hast thou that thou didst
not receive, He fittingly acknowledges that He received it.
To these things again one of our opponents will say,
„Lo, the Son evidently declares that He hath received
j> judgement of the Father ; but He receives (it is plain) aa
„not having. How then will not He That gives with
„ Authority be greater and of Superior Nature to Him
„Who must needs receive?"
What then do we say to these things ? Our prearranged
argument has been, I think, not unskilfully managed, in-
troducing a consideration specially befitting the time, to
wit of the Incarnation, and most accordant with the eco-
nomy of the Flesh, when He was called a servant, when
7.
\m
mi
Receiver and giver may be equal. Judging an operation not of 'essence. 259
He humbled Himself, made in our likeness. But since
it seemeth good to thee haughtily to despise the simpler
doctrines, and to make more critical examination of them,
come then, opposing thy objections, let us first say, Not
altogether, nor of necessity, sir, doth he that is said to
give anything, impart it to the recipient as though he
had it not, nor yet is the giver always greater than the re-
ceiver. For what wilt thou do, when thou seest the holy
Psalmist saying in the Spirit, Give glory to God ? Shall
we consider that God is in need of glory, or that we who
are commanded to offer Him this, are on this account greater
than the Creator ? But not even thou wilt dare to say
this, who shunnest not the fear of blasphemies. For full of
glory is the Godhead, even though It receive it not from
us. For He who receives as honour, what He hath of Own 3 ,
will never bo thought inferior to those who offer Him glory
as a gift. One may often see that he who has received any-
thing is not inferior to the giver, and that the Father is not
therefore of Superior Nature to His offspring, because He
hath committed to Him all judgment.
Next we must consider this too. To judge or to give
judgment, are rather operations and acts conceived as
properties of essences than themselves truly essences. For
we in giving judgment do something, being in ourselves 3
what we are. But if we grant that judging or giving
judgment is of the nature of an essence, how must we not
needs grant, even against our wills, that some cannot exist
at all, except as judges, and that their being wholly ceases
together with the termination of the judgment ? But so
to think, is most absurd. Judgment then is an operation,
and nothing else. What then hath the Father committed
to the Son ? No accession from His Own Nature, in com-
mitting all judgment to Him, but rather an operation in
respect of them that are judged. How then will He here-
in be greater, or of Superior Nature, by having added
anything which was not in the Son Who saith, All things
that the Father hath are Mine?
How then He must be conceived of as giving, hear now.
s 2
Chap. 7
c. v. 22.
Ps. Ixviii.
34 LXX.
2 o'iKoQep
3 I5ia£6v-
Tins
Infra
xvi. 15.
m
Book 2.
c. v. 22.
260 Creation and judging thro' the Son. Fire's operation.
As God the Father, having the Power to create, createth
all things through the Son, as through His own Power and
Might : so having the Power too to judge, He will work
this too through the Son, as His Own Righteousness. As
though it were said that fire too yielded up burning to the
operation that is of itself by nature, the fact taking this
direction : so piously interpreting, Hath committed, shall we
escape the snare of the devil. But if they persist in shame-
lessly asserting that glory is added to Him of the Father,
through His being manifested Judge of the earth, let them
teach us, how He is any longer to be considered Lord of
glory, Who in the last times was crowned with the honours
hereunto pertaining.
!»#
i I
CHAPTER VIII.
That the Son being God and of God by Nature, and the Exact
Image of Him Who begat Him, hath equal honour and glory with
Him.
23 That all should honour the Son even as they honour the Father:
he that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father Which
sent Him.
A cause and reason of the things already enumerated,
is now evident, viz., that the Son ought to be honoured in
Equality and likeness with the Father. For recapitulating
a little, and carried back to a recollection of the preced-"
ing, you will view accurately the force of the passage. He
said then that God was His Father, making Himself Equal Supra
ver. 18.
with God; then again He began shewing that He was of
Equal strength and skill, saying, For what things soever He Supra
doeth, these doeth also the Son likewise. That He' is both ver " 19,
Life and Life-giving by Nature, as is He too Who begat
Him, He shewed plainly, adding, For as the Father raiseth Supra
up the dead and quickeneth them, so the Son too quick-
eneth whom He will. But that He will be also Judge of
all, the Father in all things co -approving and consenting,
He declared, saying, For neither doth the Father judge any s upra
man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. What ver " 22,
then is the cause of these things ? what induced the Only-
Begotten to say all this ? That all men (He saith) should
honour the Son even as they honour the Father. For if
He hath all things whatever the Father hath, as far as
appertains to God-befitting Dignity, how is it not fitting
that He to Whom nothing is lacking to Identity of essence
should be crowned with equal honours with Him ? What
then do they say to this too who pervert all equity, as saith Mic.iii.a
the Prophet Isaiah ?
262
As indicates various degrees of
S. Luke
vi. 36.
Infra
xvii. 23
Book 2. „ If (he says) by reason of its being said, That all men
„ should honour the Son even as they honour the Father,
„ ye suppose that one ought to magnify the Son with
„ equal honours with the Father, ye know not that ye are
„ stepping far away from the truth. For the word As does
„ not altogether introduce equality of acts, in respect of
„ those things it is affixed to, but often marks out a kind of
„ likeness, just as (he says) the Saviour counsels, saying,
„ Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also which is in
„ Heaven is merciful. Shall we then be as merciful as the
„ Father, on account of the as? And again Christ says
„ to His Father of His disciples : Thou hast loved them,
„ AS Thou hast loved Me. But we will not grant that the
„ disciples are loved just as the Son, on account of the
„ as. Why then dost thou multiply words, and distort
„what is said into blasphemy, though it introduces no
„ obligation on the hearers to honour the Son in equal
„ measure with the Father V
What then is our answer to these things ? With bitter
■words do the fighters against God bay at us, but without
Phil. iii. are dogs, as Paul saith, without are evil workers, without
2 ' the right faith are the concision. For we are sons of the
truth and children of the light. Therefore we will glorify
the Only-Begotten together with God the Father, not with
any difference, but in equality of honour and glory, as
God of God, and Light of Light, and Life of Life. And
overmuch enquiry into what is to be received as faith, is
not without hazard : nevertheless we must test the force
of the As, lest our opponents be overwise in their own
conceits. When therefore As is applied to 'things unlike
in their nature, it does not wholly introduce absolute
equality, but rather likeness and resemblance, as ye your-
selves acknowledged above; but when it is applied to things
in all respects like to one another, it shews equality in all
things and similitude and whatever else is found to have
the same force with these. Just as if I say, Bright is the
sun in Heaven, bright too is silver which is of the earth,
yet is the nature of the things mentioned diverse. Let
likeness. Christ foresaw and met the cavillings of heretics. 263
any of the rich of the earth, be supposed to say to his Chap. 8.
household servants, Let the silver shine as the sun. In
this case we very justly say that earthly matter attains not
to equal brightness with the sun, but to a certain likeness
and resemblance, although the word As be used of it. But
let Peter and John (suppose) of the holy disciples be
brought forward, who both in respect of nature and of
piety towards God, fail not of an accurate likeness one
to another, let the As be applied, some one saying of
them, as here, Let John be honoured by all, even as
Peter, will the As here be powerless, so that equal honour
ought not to be paid to both ? But I do not suppose that
any one will say such a thing : for he will see that there
is nothing to prevent it.
According to this analogy of idea, when the As is ap-
plied to the Father and the Son, why should we shrink
from crowning Both with equal honours ? For He having
considered before, as God, things to come, and having
carefully viewed the envious opposition of thine unlearning
hath brought in the As, not bare and bereft of the aid befit-
ting it, but having strengthened it beforehand with con-
venient proofs, and shewn afore that He is God by
Nature (for He made God His Father) : having again fore- Supra
shewn that He is both God the Creator and of a truth Life, ver ' '
and having before introduced Himself, altogether glorying
(so to say) in the Attributes 1 of God the Father, — He after- 1 isidfiacn
wards seasonably subjoins That all men should honour the
Son even as they honour the Father too. Then what objec-
tion still appears, what is there to binder, that He, in
Whom are Essentially the Properties 2 and excellencies of 2ys, a
the Father, should attain to an equal degree of honour ?
for we shall be found honouring the very Nature of God
the Father, full well beaming forth in the Son. Wherefore
He proceeds, He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not
the Father which sent Him. For the charge of dishon-
ouring the Son, and the force of blasphemy against Him,
will mount up unto none other more truly than the Fa-
ther Himself, Who put forth the Son as it were from the
264 The Son God lest The Teinity be unequal ;
Book 2.
c. v. 23.
Gen. ix.
6.
3 itrxvpa.-
riaOm
u
* ffvvra-
Fount of His Own Nature, even though He be seen
throughout the whole Holy Scriptures as everlastingly
with Him.
„ Yea (saith the opponent) let the charge from dishonour-
„ ing the Son go to whatsoever you please, or rather let it
„ reach even unto God the Father Himself. For He will be
„ angry, and that with reason, yet not wholly so, as though
„ His Very Nature were insulted in the Son, according to
„ our just now carefully finished argument, but since He
„ is His Image and Impress, formed most excellently after
„His Divine and Ineffable Essence, He is with reason
„ angry, and will wholly transfer the wrong to Himself.
„For it were indeed most absurd, that he who insulted
„the Divine Impresses, should not surely pay the penalty
3 , of his sin against the Archetype. Just as he who has in-
„ suited the images of earthly kings, is punished as having
„ indeed transgressed against the ruler himself. And in
„ like manner shall we find it decreed by God in respect of
„ ourselves also : for Whoso (saith He) sheddeth man's blood,
„for his blood shall he be poured forth: because in the Image of
„ God He made man. Seest thou then hereby very clearly
„ (saith he) that if the Image be wronged, and not alto-
„ gether the Divine Nature, God the Father deems it right
„to be angry? In this way then let that which is said
„ by Christ be conceived of and adapted 8 , He that honoureth
„not the Son, neither doth he honour the Father"
Shall then the Only Begotten be classed with us as exter-
nal to the Essence of the Father ? how then will He yet be
God by Nature, if He altogether slip out of the bounds of
the Godhead, situate in some nature of his own and of
other sort than that wherein the Father is? and we do
wrong, it seems, in bringing into one count of Godhead a ,
the order 4 of the Holy Trinity. We ought, we ought at
length to worship the Father as God, to impart some glory
of Their Own to the Son and the Spirit, severing them as
it were into different natures, and defining severally to Each
the mode of His Existence. Yet do the Divine Scriptures
» els eva 6e6ri)TOS hvafiifi&QovTtt Koyov
God beget worse than the creature. Senses of Image. 265
declare unto us One God, classing- with the Father the Son Chap. 8.
. c v 23
and the Spirit, so that through Their Essential and exact
sameness the Holy Trinity is brought unto one count of God-
head. The Only-Begotten is not then alien from the Na-
ture of Him who begat Him, but neither will He be a whit
conceived of as Son in truth, if He beamed not forth from
the Essence of the Father (for this and no other is the
definition and mode of true son ship in all) but if there
be no Son, God's being Father will be wholly taken away
too. How then will Paul be true in saying of Him,
Of Whom every family in Heaven and earth is named ? Eph. iii.
For if He have not begotten of Himself in God-befitting
manner the Son, how shall the beginning of Fatherhood
be in Him, going through in imitation to those who are in
Heaven and earth ? But God is in truth Father : the Only-
Begotten therefore is by Nature Son, and is of a surety
within the bounds of the Divinity. For God will be be-
gotten of God even as man (for example) of man, and the
Nature of God the Father, Which transcends all things,
will not err 5 by bearing fruit not befitting It. 5 S"^-
But since some blasphemously and foolishly say, that
it is not the Nature of God the Father That is insulted in
the Son, when He does not receive due honour from any,
but that He is angry reasonably and rightly, at His Own
Image being dishonoured in Him; we must ask them in
what sense they would have the Son be and be called the
Image of the Father. Yea rather let us forestalling their
account, determine beforehand the Nature of the Image,
according to legitimate reasoning : for so will the result
of our enquiries be clear and more distinct. Therefore Different
one and the first mode of image is that of sameness of ^. e ^|™| s
nature in properties exactly alike 6 , as Abel of Adam, or Isaac 6 airapa\-
„ ., , , -I--1 •• . vi X6.KTOIS
of Abraham : the second again is that consisting m likeness
of impress, and accurate impression of form, as the King's
delineation in wood, or made in any other way, most excel-
lently and skilfully, as respects him. Another image again
is taken in respect of habits and manners, and conversa-
tion 7 and inclination to either good or bad, as for instance 7 ™\i-
1 '
266
The Son Very God, or His likeness to
Book 2.
c. v. 23.
8 irpof-
\8dvra
""X 7 ?/ 40 ""'
1 i'Ma
* v<pt-
ffravai
it may be said that the well-doer is like Paul, him that
is not so like Cain (for the being equally good or bad,
works likeness with either, and with reason confers it)
Another form of image is, that of dignity and honour and
glory and excellence, as when one for instance succeeds
another in a command, and does all things with the
authority which belongs to and becomes him. An image in
another sense, is in respect of any either quality or
quantity of a thing, and its outline and proportion : for
we must speak briefly.
Let then the most critical investigators of the Divine
Image b teach us, whether they think one ought to attri-
bute to the Only-Begotten the Essential and Natural Like-
ness, and thus say that the Only-Begotten Word proceed-
ing 8 from the Father is an Image of Him in the same
sense as Abel is of Adam, who retained in himself the
whole nature of his parent, and bore the count of human
nature all-complete ? or will they be vexed at this, com-
pelled to confess the Son truly God of God by Nature,
and turning aside according to their custom to fight
against the truth, advance to the second kind of image,
which is conceived to exist in mere form, impress and
outline 9 ? But I suppose they will shrink from saying
this. For no one, even if he be a very prater, will sup-
pose that the Godhead can be estimated in respect of
size, or circumscribed by outline, or meted by impress c ,
or that the Unembodied will wholly undergo what be-
longs to bodies. Do they say then that He is conform-
ed to Him in respect of manners and habits and will,
and are they not ashamed to dress Him in this image ?
for how is He yet ^ to be conceived of as God by Na-
ture, Who has Likeness to Him in will only, but has
another Being separately 1 of Himself ? For they will sure-
ly acknowledge that He subsists 2 . Then what is there
in Him more than in the creature ? For shall we not
believe that the angels themselves hasten to perform the
b ol rrjs Oeias cIkSvos a/cpi/SeVraTOJ c 1) koI ffx^lf xaTt irepiypaTrrbi' Kal ^a-
£VjT7jTal paKrrjpi jxeTpov)J.fvov
^e Father that of the creatures, and inmere embellishment. 267
Divine Will, who are "by nature other than God? But
what, when this is conceived of as belonging to us too ?
for does not the Only-Begotten teach us foolishly to jump
at things above our nature, and to aim at impossibilities,
saying, Be ye merciful, as your Father also .which is in
Heaven is merciful? For this were undoubtedly to say
that we ought to gain the likeness of the Father by
identity of will. And Paul too was an imitator of Christ,
of the (as they babbling say) Image of the Father in
will only. But they will shift their ground (I suppose)
from these miserable conceptions, and as though thinking
something greater and better, will surely say this, „ The
„ Only-Begotten is the Image of God the Father, in respect
„ of identity of will, in respect of God-befitting Dignity
„ and Glory and Power, in respect of Operation in creation
„ and working miracles, in respect of reigning and ruling
„ over all, in respect of judging and being worshipped by
„ angels and men and in short by all creation. By all
„ these He shewing us the Father in Himself, says that He
„is not of His Person, but is the Impress of His Person. 3 '
Therefore as we said just now, the Son is none of these
by nature, but is altogether separate from all of them
according at least to your most foolish reasoning, and is
neither Very God, nor Son, nor King, nor Lord, nor
Creator, nor Mighty, nor in respect of His own Will is He
by Nature Good : but in boasts solely and only of what is
God-befitting is He seen. And as is the application of tints
to paintings on tablets, beautifying them by the variety to
the eye, but having nothing true : so as to the Son too,
the beauty of the Excellencies of God the Father decks
Him around with bare names only, but is as it were ap-
plied from without like certain tints : yea rather the Divine
Nature is outlined 3 in Him, and appears in bare type.
Next, how will ye not be shewn to be fighting outright
with all the holy Scriptures, that ye may with justice hear,
Ye stiffneclced and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye are
always resisting the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do
ye too, for when do they not call the Son Very God, or
Chap. 8.
c. v. 23.
S. Luke
vi. 3G.
Ilcb. i. 3.
3 (TKia-
ypa<peirai
Acts vii.
51.
268
The Son Very God; or things made
IS;!-
I Hi
Book 2.
c. v. 23.
Ps. xlv.
6.
Infra xx.
28.
Rom. i.
25.
<pouvres
5 a^iSiri-
arov
6 aSpavz-
ffrarov
when do they bear Him forth from the Essence of His
Father ? which of them has dared to say that He is by
Nature neither Creator nor King nor Almighty nor to be
worshipped ? For the Divine Psalmist says as to the Only-
Begotten Himself, Thy Throne, God, is for ever and ever :
Thomas again the most wise disciple in like wise calls Him
God alike and Lord. He is called Almighty and Creator
by every voice of saint, and as having not according to you
the Dignity from without, but as being by Nature what
He is said to be, and therefore is He worshipped both by
the holy Angels and by us, albeit the Divine Scripture says
that we ought to worship none other, save the Lord God
Alone.
If then they hold that the God-befitting Dignity in Him
is acquired and given, and think that they ought to wor-
ship such an one, let them know that they are worshipping
the creature rather than the Creator, and making out 4 to
themselves a new and fresh God, rather than acknowledg-
ing Him Who is really so by Nature. But if while they say
that the Son is external to the Essence of God the Father,
they yet acknowledge Him to be Son and Yery God and
King and Lord and Creator, and to have Essentially in
Himself the Properties and Excellencies of the Father, let
them see whither there is risk that the end of those who
thus think will be. For nothing at all will be found of
sure faith 5 in the Divine Nature, since the nature of things
originate also is now capable of being whatever It is con-
ceived to be. For it has been proved according to the
most feeble 6 reasoning of our opponents, that the Only-
Begotten not being of the Divine Nature, hath yet truly in
Himself Its Excellencies. Who will not shudder at the
mere hearing the blasphemy of the doctrines? For all
things are now overturned, when the Nature That is above
all things descendeth so as to be classed with things origi-
nate, and the creation itself contrary to reason springs up
to the measure above it, and not designed for it.
Therefore let us swimming away from the absurdity of
such doctrines, as from a ship sinking in the sea, hasten to
jput in God's place. His treatment of the Jews. 269
the Truth, as to a secure and unruffled haven, -and let us Chap. 8.
ackowledge the Son to be the Image of God the Father, c ' v * 24 '
not plaistered over 7 so to say with perishable honours, nor ? T6 P »«-
adorned merely with God-befitting titles, but Essentially IT^'
Exact 8 according to the likeness of His Father, and un- 8 a^p.-
alterably being by Nature That which He That begat Him ^^ yov
is conceived to be, to wit Very God of God in truth, Al-
mighty, Creator, Glorified, Good, to be worshipped/ and
whatever may be added to the things enumerated ae befit-
ting God. For then shewing Him to be Like in all things
to God the Father, we shall also shew Him true, in saying
that if any will not honour the Son, neither doth he honour the
Father Which hath sent Him : for as to this our enquiry and
the test of the things just now investigated had its origin.
24 Verily verily I say unto you, he that heareth My Word
and believeth on Him That sent Me, hath everlasting Life,
and cometh not into condemnation, but is passed from death
unto life.
Having now proved sufficiently by the foregoing, that the
miserable Jews sin not against the Son only, by daring to
find fault with the things which He says or does among
them in His teaching, but do also ignorantly transgress
against the Father Himself, and having as far as pertains
to the force of what has been said, wrapped about their
over-confidence 9 with fear, and persuaded them to live 9 9 P d<ros
more religiously l in hope of things to come, He at length '
snares them to obedience. And not unskilfully again did °
He frame His speech to this end. For since He knew that
the Jews were still diseased, and yet offended concerning
Him, He again brings back their faith to the Person of
God the Father, not as excluding Himself, but as honoured
in the Father too by reason of Identity of Essence. For
He affirms that they who believe shall not only be par-
takers of eternal life, but also shall escape the peril of the
condemnation 2 , being justified, that is: holding forth fear ^Veo-s
mixed with hope. For thus could He make His discourse
more efficacious and more demonstrative 3 to the hearers. 3 8<um-
KdCTfpOV
67T16J/C6-
(rrepov
270 The Son the Judge. The hour that cometh
Supra
ver. 20
1
{.'
Book 2. 25 Verily verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and now
c ' v ' ' is when the dead shall hear the voice of the So?i of God, and
they that hear shall live.
Having said that believers shall pass from death to life,
He introduces Himself as Performer of the promise, and
Accomplisher of the whole thing, partly hinting to the
Jews, that marvellous in truth is the Power shewn in the
case of the paralytic, but that the Son will be revealed as a
Worker of things yet more glorious, driving away from
the bodies of men not only sickness and the infirmities of
diseases, but also overthrowing death and the heavily-
pressing corruption (for this was what was said a little
before, The Father loveth the Son and sheweth Him all
things that Himself doeth and greater worhs than these will
He shew Him, that ye may marvel; for the greater wonder
is shewn in the raising of the dead), partly also preparing
the way for that which would probably in no slight degree
affright the hearers. For He plainly declares that He will
raise the dead, and will bring the creature 4 to judgment,
that through the expectation of one day being brought be-
fore Him and giving account of everything, they might
be found more backward in their daring to persecute Him,
and might receive more zealously the word of teaching
and guidance.
To these things then the aim of the chapter looks and
tends : but we must now explain the words. The com-
mon account then is (as it seems) that the time will come,
when the dead shall hear the Voice of Him That raiseth
5 koI vvv them : and they suppose that it is now too 5 no less pre-
sent, either as when Lazarus for instance is to hear the
Voice of the Saviour, or as saying that the dead are those
not yet called through faith unto eternal life, who will
surely attain unto it, by having received the doctrine of
the Saviour. And this method of considering it does in-
deed preserve a plausible appearance, but accuracy not at
all. Wherefore ruminating 6 again the force of the words,
we will affix a more suitable sense, and thus open the
reading :
4 rb iroi
rjfxa,
6 avafxa-
\ ,,«•
Chap. 8.
v. 2G, 27.
Supra p.
2GK.
the Resurrection-day . Our Lord's mixed speech. 271
Verily verily I say unto you, the hour is coming and
now is, when the dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of
God; the hour again that is, when they that hear shall
live. By the words then in the beginning, He means the
time of the resurrection, wherein He teaches through the
word of the Judge that they that sleep shall rise again
to answer for their life in the world, that as I said before,
devising the fear thence arising as a bridle, He might
persuade them to live full excellently and wisely : by the
closing words He shews that the due time of believing
is now come, but also says that everlasting life will be
the reward of obedience : all but declaring, Ye shall all
come to judgement, sirs, that is at the time of the Ee-
surrection, but if it seem bitter to you to be punished,
and to undergo endless penalties at the hand of the of-
fended Judge, suffer not the time of obedience to pass
by, but laying hold of it while yet present, haste ye to
attain to everlasting life.
26 For as the Father hath life in Himself, so gave He to the
27 Son too to have life in Himself, and p-avp Him anthn r U„
to execute judgment also because He is the Son of Man.
Observe again the economy in these words, that thou
mayest marvel at the form of expression and not, by fall-
ing into offence thereat from ignorance, bring upon thy-
self perdition. For the Only-Begotten, being Man in re-
spect of the nature of His Body, and seen as one of us
while yet upon the earth with flesh, manifoldly instructing
the Jews in matters pertaining to salvation, clothed Him-
self with the glory of two God-befitting things. For He
clearly affirmed, that He would both raise the dead, and
set them at His Judgement-seat to be judged. But it was
extremely likely that the hearers would be vexed at this,
accusing Him with reason, because He said that Ood v;as Supra
His Father, making Himself equal with God. Having min-
gled therefore with God-befitting Authority and Splendour
language befitting the human nature, He beguiles the
weight of their wrath, saying more modestly and lowlily
ver. 18.
Book 2.
v. 28, 29.
7 eti6\i-
adov
8 yopyfyv
Supra p.
57 sqq.
272 As man He receives to judge, as God quickeneth.
than was necessary, For as the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son too to have life in Himself.
Marvel not (saith He) if I, Who am now as you, and am
seen as a Man, promise to raise the dead, and threaten
to bring them to judgement : the Father hath given Me
Power to quicken, He hath given Me to judge with au-
thority. But when He had hereby healed the readily-
slipping 7 ear of the Jews, He bestows zealous 8 care for
the profit too of what follows, and immediately explain-
ing why He says that He hath received it, He alleges
that human nature hath nothing of itself, saying, Because
He is the Son of Man.
For that the Only Begotten is also Life by Nature, and
not a partaker of life from another, and so quickeneth as
doth the Father, I think it superfluous to say now, since
no small discourse was expended hereupon in the beginn-
ing of the book, upon the words, In Him was Life.
28 Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all
29 that are in the graves shall hear His Voice and shall come
forth; .they thai have done good unto the resurrection of
life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of
doom.
IN:
I l:-H
'11
ill
He signifies by these words the time of the resurrection
l Thess. of all, when, as the Divine Paul wrote to us, The Lord
Himself shall descend from heaven with a summons, with
Acts xvii. the voice of the Archangel, with the trump of God, to judge
the world in righteousness, and render to every man accord-
ing to his works. He leads therefore by repetition of the
same things the most unlearned understanding of the Jews^
to be able clearly to understand, that He will be a Worker
of greater deeds than those in which the paralytic was
concerned, and that He will be revealed as a Judge of
the world : and by profitably contrasting the healing of one
sick person with the resurrection of the dead, He shews
that greater and more noteworthy is the operation that
9 KvrtK ij V undoes 9 death and destroys the corruption of all, and rea-
sonably and of necessity says, in respect of the lesser mir-
His works, less and great : He will Reward and Boom. 273
acle, Marvel not at this. And let us not at all suppose Chap. 8.
that by these words He means to find fault with the glory v ' 28 ' 29,
of His own works, or to enjoin the hearers that they
ought not to hold worthy of wonder, those things whereat
one may reasonably wonder, but He wishes those who
were astonished at that to know and believe that the sub-
ject of wonder as yet was small. For He raiseth by a
word and God-befitting Operation not only the sick from
little diseases, but those also who have been already sub-
merged by death and overcome by invincible corruption.
And hence introducing the greater, He says, The hour is
coming in which all that are in their graves shall hear His
Voice. For He who by a Word brought into being things
that were not, how should He not be able to win back
into being that which was already created ? For thus each
will be the effect of the same Operation, and the glorious
production of one Authority. And profitably does He
subjoin that they shall come forth of their graves, they that
were holden of base deeds and that lived in wickedness
to undergo endless punishment, the illustrious in virtue to
receive the reward of their religiousness \ eternal life : at ' *««-
once (as we said above) introducing Himself as the Dis- * e/w
penser of what belongs to each, in these words of His; and
persuading them, either from fear of suffering dreadful
punishments, to forego evil and to hasten to elect to live
more soberly, or pricked with desire after some sort for
eternal life, make more zealous and eager haste after good.
VOL. I.
CHAPTER IX.
\ ,
t ■■
1 ToDOtO).
Rom. x.
2.
Infra x.
33.
Supra
yer. 18.
2 trvvyrjiri-
8 rix v7 i v
Supra
ver. 21.
That the Son is jn nothing inferior to God the Father, but is of
Equal Might in Operation unto all things as God of God.
30 I can of Mine Own Self do nothing : as I hear, I judge,
and My Judgment is just, because J seek not Mine Own
Will, but the Will of the Father Which sent Me.
Give more exact heed again to the things said, and re-
. ceive the force of its thought 1 with intelligence. For the
Jews not knowing the deep Mystery of the economy of
flesh, nor yet acknowledging the Word of God indwell-
ing in the Temple of the Virgin, were often excited by
zeal, mistaken and not according to knowledge, as Paul saith,
to savageness of manners and fierce anger: and indeed
were attempting to stone Him, for that He, being a Man,
was making Himself God, and again because He said that
God was His Father, making Himself Equal with God. But
since they were thus hard of understanding and utterly
unable to endure God-befitting words, but both thought
and spake meanly of Him, the Saviour by an economy acts
the child with 2 them, and made His explanation a mixed
one, neither wholly foregoing words befitting God, nor
altogether rejecting human language : but having said
something worthy of His Divine Authority, He forthwith
represses the untutored mind of the hearers, by bringing
in something human also; and again having said some-
thing human by reason of the economy, He suffers not
what belongs to Him to be seen in mean estate only,
shewing often by His Superhuman Might and Words that
He is by Nature God. Some such contrivance 3 will you
find now too in the passage at present before us. For what
did He say before ? For as the Father raiseth wp the dead
The Son God Who is Judge, Who doth nought of Himself . 275
and quickeneth them, so the Son too quickeneth whom He will,
next again, For the hour is coming in the which all that are in
their graves shall hear His Voice; and besides, that they
shall also come forth to be judged and to receive their re-
ward according to their works. But He That saith He
can quicken whom He will, and in like manner as the Father :
how shall He not be conceived of as clothed with Might be-
fitting God ? He Who openly says that He will be Judge
of all, how shall He not with justice terrify those who deem
that He is yet bare Man ? For it was like that they being
Hebrews and instructed in the Sacred Writings, should
not be entirely ignorant that God should be Judge of the
world, since they too sang often, Arise, God, judge the
earth, and again, For God is the Judge.
Since then He knew that the ignorant people of the
Jews were vexed at these things, He rids them of their
accustomed anger by saying in more human language, I
can of Mine Own self do nothing : as I hear, I judge. As
far then as one can say, taking the words superficially, He
derides 4 the understanding of the Jews. For the form
of expression gives the idea of a sort of weakness, and of
authority not altogether free; but it is not so in truth,
since the Son being Equal in all things to the Father,
hath by Nature the same Operation and Authority in re-
spect to all things. But He saith that He can do nothing
of Himself, but as He heareth, so He judgeth : in another
way again shewing Himself Equal in Mind and Power to
God the Father.
For neither will the Father be conceived of as doing any-
thing without the Son, Alone and by Himself, seeing
He hath Him as His Might and Power (therefore all
things were made by Him, and without Him was not made
any one thing) nor will the Son again do ought of Him-
self, the Father not co-with Him. Therefore He saith also,
Of Myself I do nothing ; but the Father That dwelleth in Me,
He doeth the works. And we shall not suppose that the
Son is strengthened by the Father, as though weak, and
again that authority over all things is given Him: for then
' t2
Chap. 9.
c. v. 30.
Supra
ver. 28.
Ps.
lxxxii. 8.
Ps. lxxv.
7.
* oiayeAf
Supra i.
3.
Infra
viii. 28 ;
xiv. 10.
276 The Son hath all the Power of the Father.
8 bvarpe
w *'
Book 2. would He be no longer God by Nature, as having the glory
* iira.KTbi' of the Godhead bestowed 5 ; but neither would the Father
Himself still exist in unimpaired excellency of good things,
if He had the Word, the Impress of His Nature, such as
to require Power and Authority from another. For a
giver of the things spoken of will be sought for analogously
for the Image and Archetype, and thus in short our argu-
ment will go forth into boundless controversy, and will
run out into the deep sea of blasphemy. But since the
Son being of the Essence of the Father takes to Himself
by Nature all the Properties of Him who begat Him, and
Essentially attains 6 to one Godhead with Him, by reason
of Identity of Nature, He is in the Father, and hath again
the Father in Himself: wherefore He frequently, Unblamed
and Truly, attributes to the Father the Power of His Own
Works, not excluding Himself from the power of doing
them but attributing all things to the Operation of the
One Godhead : for One is the Godhead in the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost.
And that the Son is not inferior to the Father either
in Power or Operation unto ought, but is Like in all
things and of Equal Might, has been demonstrated by
us elsewhere, on the words, The Son can do nothing of
Himself but what He seeth the Father do : for what things
soever He doeth, these doeth the Son too likewise. But since
I think it just and becoming, to display the most devoted
zeal in Divine doctrines ; come let us after the custom of
sailors on the sea wind back anew (as a cable) the whole
argument of the chapter. For in this way one may see,
that the Son does not accuse His Own Nature by saying
that He can do nothing of Himself, but rather exposes the
folly of the Jews, and plainly shews that they trample on
the law of Moses. For in that to the words, I can do no-
thing of Myself, is immediately subjoined, As I hear, I
judge, it frees the Son from all reproach of not being able
to act of His Own Power : rather it shews clearly that He
7 (pihoird- j s j n a ll things Filial 7 and Consentient 8 with Him Who begat
*°£weet- Him. For if as though impotent He were borrowing Hia
Atji-Jji/
Supra
ver. 19.
i !
One Will in all the Holy Trinity. Of Myself what. 277
Power of the Father, as not having sufficient of Himself: Chap. 9.
how ought He not rather to say, I can of Mine Own Self do c ' v " '
nothing, I receive the power of my Father ? But now as
He does not say this, but rather adds to the being able to
do nothing of Himself, that He so judges as He hears,
it is evident that not in respect of weakness of opera-
tion as to ought, does He put that He cannot, but by
reason of impossibility of transgressing in anything the
Will of the Father. For since One Godhead is conceived
of in the Father and the Son, the Will too (I suppose) will
be surely the Same ; and neither in the Father, nor yet in
the Son or the Holy Ghost will the Divine Nature be con-
ceived of as at variance with Itself; but whatsoever seemeth
good to the Father (for example), this is the Will of the
Whole Godhead.
Needs therefore does the Son introduce Himself as
co-approving and consenting to the Father in whatever
seemeth good to Him, explaining that He cannot do any-
thing which is not altogether according to the Mind of
the Father, for this is the meaning of Of Myself . Just as
if He should say that He cannot commit sin, He would
not rightly seem to any to incur the charge of weakness,
but rather to set forth a wondrous and God-befitting Pro-
perty 9 of His Own Nature (for He gives to understand 9 *$"»>/"*
that He is Immoveable and Unchangeable) : so when He
acknowledges that He can do nothing of Himself, we
shall rather be awestruck as seeing Unchangeableness the
fruit of the Unchangeable Nature, than unseasonably ac-
count the not being able to be a mark of weakness.
Let these things be said by us conformably to our own
ability, and let the lover of learning search out for better :
but we will not shrink from interpreting the saying in
another way too, lowering our manner of speech a little
from the bounds of the Godhead and the Excellence of the
Only-Begotten: and since the Son truly was and was called
Man, translating l the force of the passage to the economy ^ eT appv-
with Flesh, and shewing that what follows is akin and con- e M ovr * 5
nected with what preceded. Therefore He clearly testified
278 The Incarnate Son Law-giver and Law-keeper. I cannot
Book 2.
c. v. 30.
Supra
\er. 28.
Heb. ii.
16,17
E. M.
3 &>s «'|
aKivBivov
S.Matth
xv. 9.
W 4M
if *
that all that are in the graves shall hear His Voice, and that
they shall come forth to be judged. When He has once be-
gun on the subject of His judging the world, He not only
promises to be a righteous Judge at that time, in which H.e
says the Resurrection of the dead will take place, but also
declares that even now He judges rightly and justly of
matters in this life. What was the question and of what
the discourse, hear. For our sakes was He born of a
woman : for as Paul saith, He taketh not hold of angels, hut
of the seed of Abraham, wherefore it behoved Him in all things
to be made like unto His brethren. But since He was made
Man and in servant's form, He the Law-giver as God
and Lord is made under the Law also. He speaks then
sometimes as under the Law, sometimes again as above
the Law, and hath undisputed authority for both. But
He is discoursing now with the Jews as Law-keeper
and Man, as not able to transgress the commands ordered
from above, nor venturing to do ought of His Own
Mind, which does not agree with the Divine Law. Where-
fore He says, I com, of Mine own self do nothing ; as I hear,
I judge. By testifying to Himself that He can do nothing
of Himself, which is not wholly in accordance with the Law,
and that He judges and gives sentence in matters, accord-
ing as He hears, to wit by declaration of the Law, He ex-
poses the unbelief of the Jews, and lays bare their head-
strong habit. For this too the words I can of Mine own
self do nothing, well hint at, as contrasting with, Ye reck-
lessly transgress the commandments given you, ye were
bold to do all things of yourselves, fearlessly 2 , and in every
matter are ye zealous to give judgments not consonant to
the Divine decrees. For ye teach for doctrines the com-
mandments of men, and make your own will a law.
What then is the aim of this way of speaking, or how
He introduces Himself as judging justly, and they not,
shall be told next. He had healed the paralytic on the
Sabbath day, He compassionated a man who had spent
long time in sickness, shewing forth right and good judg-
ment upon him. For it was right to pity the sick man
implies Ye do. God tends Eis creatures on Sabbath. 279
even on the sabbath day, and by no means to shut up
His compassion from reverence for the sabbath day, prac-
tising a most vain piety 3 . As the Father too works
even on the sabbath day in regard of His economy
towards His creatures, and that surely through the Son,
so doth Himself also. For neither did He think that a
man who needed compassion on the sabbath day ought
to be deprived of it, by reason of the Sabbath, since He
knew that the Son of Man was Lord of the sabbath. For
not man was made for the sabbath, but the sabbath for man.
Therefore righteous herein and good is the judgment of
the Saviour, not restraining by reason of the sabbath
His Loving-Kindness to the prostrate, but that which
as God He knows how to perform (for the Divine Na-
ture is the Fountain of Goodness), this He did even on the
sabbath day : but the judgment of the Jews upon Him in
that they were vexed on account of the sabbath, and there-
fore desired to kill Him Who had done them no wrong,
how is not this exceedingly dissonant to the Divine Laws
(for it is written, The innocent and righteous slay thou not)
and the invention rather of their cruelty, and not of the holy
Scriptures ?
Understand then that Jesus says with a kind of em-
phasis to those who were angry at His deeds of good
and found fault with His holy judgments, following only
their own imaginations, and so to speak defining as law
that which seemed to them to be right even though it be
contrary to the Law : — I can of Mine Own Self do nothing,
i. e., I do all things according to the Law set forth by
Moses, I endure not to do anything of Myself, as I hear,
I judge. For what willeth the Law? Ye shall not respect
persons in judgment, for the judgment is God's, why then
(saith He) are ye angry at Me because I have made a man
every whit whole on the sabbath day, and condemn not
Moses who decreed that children should be circumcised
even on the sabbath. Judge not according to the appear-
ance, but judge righteous judgment. If a man on the sab-
bath day receive circumcision, that the Law of Moses should
Chap. 9.
c. v. 30.
3 euKdfitt-
av
S. Mark
ii. 28.
lb. 27.
Exod.
xxiii. 7.
Deut. i.
17.
Infra vii.
23.
lb. 2 L 23.
280 He Just, they unjust. Self-praise worthless.
Book 2. not be broken, thus without due cause are ye vexed at
v 31 32
' ' seeing a man every whit healed on the sabbath day ?
I therefore judged justly, but ye by no means so, for ye do
all things of yourselves. But I can of Mine Own Self do
nothing ; as I hear, I judge, and My Judgment is just, be-
cause I seeh not Mine Own Will, as ye do, but the Will of
the Father Which sent Me.
What manner of sending this is, and the mode of the
being sent, we having before spoken of at length, will re-
frain from speaking any more thereof. But we must ob-
serve for profit's sake that He says that the Law is the
Will of God the Father.
Supra
p. 193.
31 32 If I bear witness of Myself , My witness is not true : there
is another that beareth witness of Me, and I know that the
witness which He witnesseth of Me is true.
Prov.
xviii. 17
LXX.
lb. xxvii
I I'l.
Mi:
The most wise Solomon, gathering together the things in
which a man may very reasonably glory, and shew his man-
ner of life to be enviable, and placing them before those
who are apt to learn, says, The righteous man is his own
accuser in the opening of the trial, and again, Let thy neigh-
bour praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and
not thine own lips. For a thing truly burdensome and
most intolerable to the hearers, is it that some like not
to be praised by the voice of others, but attest unrestrain-
edly their own most noble and excellent deeds. But with
reason is such language distrusted ; for we are wont to be
invited by certain (so to speak) natural and necessary draw-
ings of self-love, readily to ascribe to ourselves nought
that is ill, but ever to put about us and not altogether
truthfully, the things whereby any may be thought well-
* k6viuos behaved 4 and good.
When then our Lord Jesus Christ adjudged to Himself
that He judgeth righteous judgments, saying openly that
He could do nothing of Himself, but that He makes the
Will of the Father His Rule in all His Actions, and in
saying this, introduced Himself as witness to Himself,
Supra
ver. 19
The Son God by the witness of the Father. 281
although it was true, yet of necessity considering the so-
phistry 5 of the Pharisees, and what they would say in
their folly (for they knew not that He is God by Na-
ture) : He anticipates them in putting it forward, and
says, Ye following the practice of the common people,
and not advancing beyond surmise befitting Jews, will
surely say, Thou bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is
not true; but ye shall hear this in reply (saith He), I
endure yet with your blasphemies, I am by no means
exceeding angry with you belching forth your words from
the ignorance most dear to you, I grant you for argu-
ment's sake, that even this hath been well said by you :
Be it so, ye reject My Voice, there is Another That beareth
witness of Me. He here indicates God the Father Which
is in heaven Who hath now in divers manners attested
the Verity of the Essence of His Own Son; and He says
that He knows that His witness is True shewing that
His Own Judgement too is in fact most trustworthy 6 and
true. For lest by admitting as it were that He said things
untrue of Himself, He should give room for malice 7 , and
a loophole against Himself to them who are accustomed
to think otherwise, He having ceded of necessity to what
is becoming and customary, that one ought not altogether
to credit as true him who praises and approves himself,
returns again as God to His due position 8 and says that
He knows that the witness of the Father is true, all bat
teaching this; I being Very God know Myself (says Ho),
and the Father will say nothing of favour 9 concerning
Me. For I am Such by Nature, as He, being True, will
declare Me. In the former a part then there was an as-
sent b so to say of condescension, and the words hypothe-
tic rather than true; in His saying that He knows that
Chap. 9.
v. 31, 32.
5 evptai-
Koylas
Infra
viii. 13.
6 a^lOTTL-
(TTOTdTtfV
7 KOLKO-
vo'ias
a^iav
9 <«x a P'-
(TfXtVOV,
J ranted to
avow,
and so, of
flattery
a ver. 31 If I bear witness of Myself,
My witness is not true.
° ffwaiveo-is. S. Cyril means that our
Lord agreed to the general principle
that a man's witness to himself is not
trustworthy, and says it of Himself,
in a sense, not refusing to those who
thought He was mere Man, what he-
longs to a man, and yet in the next
verse, re- asserts with" the Testimony of
the Father His own Testimony also
(/ know &c), hence that (because God)
He was a sufficient witness to Him-
self.
c i. e., on the hypothesis of His being
mere Man.
280 He Just, they unjust. Self-praise worthless.
Book 2.
v. 31, 32,
Supra
p. 193.
not be broken, thus without due cause are ye vexed at
seeing a man every whit healed on the sabbath day ?
I therefore judged justly, but ye by no means so, for ye do
all things of yourselves. But I can of Mine Own Self do
nothing ; as I hear, I judge, and My Judgment is just, be-
cause I seeh not Mine Own Will, as ye do, but the Will of
the Father Which sent Me.
What manner of sending this is, and the mode of the
being sent, we having before spoken of at length, will re-
frain from speaking any more thereof. But we must ob-
serve for profit's sake that He says that the Law is the
Will of God the Father.
31 32 If I bear witness of Myself , My witness is not true: there
is another that beareth witness of Me, and I know that the
witness which He witnesseth of Me is true.
Prov.
xviii. 17
LXX.
W
|il
The most wise Solomon, gathering together the things in
which a man may very reasonably glory, and shew his man-
ner of life to be enviable, and placing them before those
who are apt to learn, says, The righteous man is his own
accuser in the opening of the trial, and again, Let thy neigh-
lb. xxvh. oour praise thee and not thine own mouth, a stranger and
not thine own lips. For a thing truly burdensome and
most intolerable to the hearers, is it that some like not
to.be praised by the voice of others, but attest unrestrain-
edly their own most noble and excellent deeds. But with
reason is such language distrusted ; for we are wont to be
invited by certain (so to speak) natural and necessary draw-
ings of self-love, readily to ascribe to ourselves nought
that is ill, but ever to put about us and not altogether
truthfully, the things whereby any may be thoughb well-
* Kfofiios behaved 4 and good.
When then our Lord Jesus Christ adjudged to Himself
that He judgeth righteous judgments, saying openly that
He could do nothing of Himself, but that He makes the
Will of the Father His Eule in all His Actions, and in
saying this, introduced Himself as witness to Himself,
Supra
ver. 19.
The Son God by the witness of the Father. 281
although it was true, yet of necessity considering the so- Chap. 9.
phistry 5 of the Pharisees, and what they would say in Z'Jt'Jt'
their folly (for they knew not that He is God by Na- Kv *™
ture) : He anticipates them in putting it forward, and
says, Ye following the practice of the common people,
and not advancing beyond surmise befitting Jews, will
surely say, Thou bearest record of Thyself, Thy record is Infra
not true; but ye shall hear this in reply (saith He), I viii * 13#
endure yet with your blasphemies, I am by no means
exceeding angry with you belching forth your words from
the ignorance most dear to you, I grant you for argu-
ment's sake, that even this hath been well said by you:
Be it so, ye reject My Voice, there is Another That beareth '
witness of Me. He here indicates God the Father Which
is in heaven "Who hath now in divers manners attested
the Verity of the Essence of His Own Son ; and He says
that He knows that His witness is True shewing that
His Own Judgement too is in fact most trustworthy 6 and ItItIt^p
true. For lest by admitting as it were that He said things
untrue of Himself, He should give room for malice 7 , and 7 f afco -
a loophole against Himself to them who are accustomed
to think otherwise, He having ceded of necessity to what
is becoming and customary, that one ought not altogether
to credit as true him who praises and approves himself,
returns again as God to His due position 8 and says that 8 a^iav
He knows that the witness of the Father is true, all but
teaching this; I being Very God know Myself (says Ho),
and the Father will say nothing of favour 9 concerning 9 «€ X api-
Me. For I am Such by Nature, as He, being True, will '3, (
declare Me. In the former* part then there was an as- f av ° ur > .
. and so, of
sent b so to say of condescension, and the words hypothe- flattery
tic c rather than true; in His saying that He knows that
a ver. 31 If I bear witness of Myself,
My witness is not true.
° ffvvalvecris. S. Cyril means that our
Lord agreed to the general principle
that a man's witness to himself is not
trustworthy, and says it of Himself,
in a sense, not refusing to those who
thought He was mere Man, what be-
longs to a man, and yet in the next
verse, re-asserts with the Testimony of
the Father His own Testimony also
(/ know &c), hence that (because God)
He was a sufficient witness to Him-
self
c i. e., on the hypothesis of His being
mere Man.
282 Father Other than Son. Baptist asked witnessed.
hi
Book 2. the witness of the Father is true, is the demonstration of
v. 33, 34. r\ -\ -\ n ' V i -t i
1 alioiri. brod-benttmg credibility l .
But it must be observed that in respect of His Own
Person the Father is Other than the Son, and is not, as
some uninstructed heretics have imagined, introduced as
the Son-Father 3 .
(TT'OS,
sure
witness
* vioira-
rap
33 Ye have sent unto John, and he hath borne witness unto the
Truth.
As we have just affirmed that it is disgraceful, and
not without share of the uttermost folly, that any one
should be seen as an admirer of his own excellencies,
even though he should by reason of exceeding virtue es-
cape untruth : so it is an absurdity cognate (so to say) and
akin to this, that any not called upon to bear witness to
any thing, should of their own accord appear before the
judges or those who wish to enquire. For such an one
would seem (and that justly) not altogether to be anxi-
ous to tell the truth, but rather to be over-eager to give
his testimony, to make known not what the nature of the
bToKow fact is, but rather his own account of it 3 . Most skilfully
then, yea rather as God, doth our Lord Jesus Christ, over-
turning beforehand the charge of the Pharisees in regard
to this, sajr, Ye have sent unto John : not of his own accord
(says He) does the Baptist come to give his testimony to
Me, he is clear from any charge of this : he gave free testi-
mony ; ye sent to ask John, and he hath borne witness unto
the truth. For when he was asked by them who were sent
to him, whether he were the Christ, he confessed and denied
not, but confessed I am not the Christ, but am sent before Him.
He hath then borne witness to the Truth, for Christ is the
Truth.
Supra
i. !-0, iii.
28.
J*
Hi- «f.
34 But I receive not testimony from man, but these things I
say, that ye might be saved.
He doth not reject the word of John as useless,
apybv uor declare the witness of the truth to be of none effect*
(for He would with justice have seemed to have wrought
it? i
1 1
m
If man's witness rejected, God's abideth.
283
absurdity against Himself, by unreasonably 5 dismissing Chap. 9.
from credence him whom He sent to cry. Prepare ye the 5 ^ a ' p a- '
way of the Lord, make straight the -paths of our God) but j^x]
as striving with the unbounded disobedience of the Jews 3 -
He proceeds to what is better and of more weight 6 , say- e ^ l0 \ -
ing that not of necessity is testimony to Himself from voice ? WT€ P a
of man admitted, but rather giving them more glorious
proof from the Authority befitting Him Who is by Na-
ture God, and from the Excellence of the Divine Miracles.
For a person will sometimes reject the voice of man, as
not true, even though he be haply enrolled among the
saints. Which some not scrupling to do, used to oppose
the words of the Prophets, crying out, Speak unto us other lb. xxx.
things and declare unto tis another deceit : and yet besides
these, certain of them of Jerusalem, or of the land of Judah,
who had escaped into Egypt: to wit, Azariah the son of Jer. xliii.
Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the proud
men, as it is written, openly disbelieving the prophecies of
Jeremiah, said, Thou speakest falsely, the Lord sent thee not
to say to us, Go not into Egypt. But demonstration through ,
miracles, what gainsaying will it admit of; and the being
borne witness to by the Excellencies of God the Father,
what mode of stubbornness will it yet grant to the fault-
finders ? And verily Nicodemus (he was one of their
rulers, and ranked among those in authority) gave incon-
trovertible testimony from His miracles, saying, Rabbi, we Supra
know that Thou art a Teacher come from God, for no man
can cTo these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with
Him.
Since then to disbelieve even the holy Baptist himself
who brought testimony as far as words go, was not too
much for the malice 7 of the Jews, He says again, in a 7 kclko-
sort of irony d , The blessed Baptist hath borne witness to supra
the truth, even though questioned by you, but since no- ver ' 33 '
thing has been left untried by you, and ye have fool-
hardily accustomed yourselves to launch forth into all
d ks iv ?)0€i. This use of $Qos is com- A and often beside,
mon in S. Cyril ; cf. in xii. Proph. 399
284
For their salvation every means used.
Book 2. manne r of reviling, ye have, it is likely, rejected his voice.
And since this too seems to you to be right, be it so :
I am haply persuaded, I agree with you, I will put aside
for your sakes the voice of John too, and with you ex-
cept against his testimony : I have the Father from above
bearing testimony. But teaching again that the expres-
sion implies assent for argument's sake e , He profitably
subjoined, But these things I say that ye might be saved,
that is, I used this manner of speech to you, not that the'
8 iiroBt- truth is so, but for argument's sake 8 , that by every means
meats .. ,
ye may be saved.
And here our second book shall end.
The second Book of Cyril. Patriarch op Alexandria
on S. John is finished.
awalveaiv \modeTinr\v cf. the expression used above p. 281.
'■' *..- *'*
CHAPTERS TREATED MORE AT LARGE IN THE
THIRD BOOK.
Chapter 1. A critical enquiry, why the blessed Baptist is called
by Christ not only a lamp, but burning and shining; on the
words, He was the burning lamp.
Chapter 2. That the Son is the Image of God the Father, wherein
also is an exposure of the Jews as not understanding the words
darkly uttered by Moses ; on the words, Ye have neither heard
His Voice at any time, &c.
Chapter 3. That Moses was indicating the coming of the Saviour,
when he said A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto
you like unto me.
Chapter 4. That oftentimes the departures of Christ from Jeru-
salem signify the transferring of His grace to the Gentiles, wherein
is also the discourse ol the five barley loaves and the two little
fishes; on the words, And after these things Jesus departed
across the sea of Tiberias.
Chapter 5. That the Only-Begotten is the Impress of the Person
* of the Father, and no other impress save He, either is or is con-
ceived of; on the words, Which the Son of Man shall give you, &c.
Chapter 6. On the manna, that it was a type of Christ's Presence
and of the spiritual graces by Him ; on the words, Jesus therefore
said unto them, Verily verily I say unto you, not Moses hath
given you the Bread from Heaven.
OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS
CYRIL
Archbishop of Alexandria
ON THE
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.
Wisd. iii.
15.
1 oiaKo-
ffTpo4>f?J>,
to hold
the helm
2 iyKo\-
Troufievoi
Isa. xliii.
16.
Supra
ver. 34.
BOOK III.
A critical enquiry why the blessed Baptist is called by Christ
not only the lamp, but burning and shining.
Having but now with toil stayed our pen on the second
book and swum through the dee^ and wide sea of Divine
contemplations, thinking so to reach the end, as a harbour,
and all but mooring our skiff on the mainland, we see the
commencement of another ocean, to witj our course on the
sequel. Which that we should accomplish with all dili-
gence, both the nature of the thing shames us into, and
that said by some one persuades us no less unto, For
glorious is the fruit of good labours. Come then, let us^
mounting up unto a courageous purpose of mind, commit
our affairs to the guidance J of the good and loving God :
let us, spreading forth like a sail, the expanse of our
understanding and embracing 2 the grace of the Spirit as the
sound of a fair wind from the stern, run out into deep in-
search. For it is Christ Which maheth a way in the sea
and a path in the water. Our second book then ended
with, But I receive not testimony from man ; but these things
I say, that ye might be saved. Let us begin the third, join-
ing in order what follows concerning the holy Baptist, of
whom Christ says;
TJte Son Liyht as God, the creature enlightened. 287
35 lie was the lamp burning and shining ; and ye were willing Chap. l.
for a season to rejoice in his light.
c. v. 35.
He likens the holy Baptist to a lamp, in that as far as
appertains to the measure of man, he shone forth before
His Coming, yet not with his own light : for not its own
is the light in the lamp, but from without and bestowed
and added : thus will you see in the saints also the illumi-
nation that is from Christ in the Spirit. Wherefore they
both thinking and acting most wisely do themselves con-
fess out of their own mouth, Of His fulness have all we
received. For the Only-Begotten is by Nature Light, in
that from Light too He beamed forth, I mean, from the
Essence of the Father : but the creation partakes of it, and
whatever is endowed with power of reasoning and think-
ing, is as a vessel most excellently fashioned by God the
Most Excellent Artificer 3 of all things, with capacity for
being filled with Divine Light.
The blessed Baptist then is a lamp according to the
above-given explanation. The Saviour saying this eco-
nomically calls the foolish Pharisees to remembrance of
the Yoice of God the Father, saying of Him, I prepared
a lamp for My Christ. Very profitably and of necessity does
Christ now subjoin these things to those already afore-
said. For. since, cutting off all occasion of unbelief from
the Jews, and from all sides compelling them to the duty
of believing on Him, He thought good to agree with them
in not receiving his testimony, saying, I receive not testi-
mony from man, that they might not suppose that the Lord
was really and truly so minded respecting His forerunner,
as the form of the words gives, — profitably to His present
purpose, does He introduce him, not as Himself saying any-
thing of him, but as proclaimed by the Yoice of the Father.
For He thought that from reverence certainly to God the
Father, the gainsayer must either be ashamed, or shew
himself now more nakedly fighting against God, as un-
restrainedly going against the very words of God the
Father.
Supra
i. lt>.
3 apiffTO-
r4x vou
Ps.
cxxxii.
17.
Supra
ver. 34.
Book 3.
g. v. 35.
Isa. xl. 3
* iriKpo-
Tepwv
Ps.
cxxxii.
17.
U- *"'*
288 Pharisees unstable. Burning and shining,
He then (saith He) was the lamp, and ye were willing for a
season to rejoice in his light. For it behoved Him not only
to shew that the Pharisees easily went astray from what is
right, and had by the great impiety of their ways thrust
from them the will to believe, but also to convict them of
being fickle, and by no means accustomed to cleave to
the desire of good things, but after having barely tasted,
and approved in words only those whom they thought to
be holy, they were not ashamed quickly to go over to the
contrary habit. For this I think is the meaning of their
being willi7ig for a season to rejoice in his light. For at
the commencement they admired the holy Baptist, as an
ascetic, as a lover of God, as an example of all piety, but
they who honour the miracle again insult it, not enduring
■ to hear, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight the
paths of our God. For this they are clearly found doing
through unbelief.
And now (as I think) having kept the well-trodden and
commonly-used method of interpretation of the passage,
we have put forth the meaning of it, according to our
power : but since the Word of the Saviour extendeth to
deep meanings, and evidently all but necessitateth the
taking hold of more subtil 4 conceptions, not merely signi-
fying that John was a lamp, but also burning and shining,
we deem it needful to apply ourselves more keenly to the
force of the words and so track out the beauty of the
truth. The sentence itself shall again be brought forward.
He was the Lamp, He says. It would have been sufficient
by this alone to have pointed out the holy Baptist, so
that the hearers should go back to the thought of the pro-
phecy concerning Him, which runs thus, I prepared a lamp
for My Ohrist. But since He adds to the word lamp, the
burning and shining, it is thence manifest that He carries
the hearer back not merely to the prophet's voice, but
also to some pre-figuring of the Law, fore-representing, as
in figure and shadow, the torch-bearing of John, which he
well performed by his testimony to Ohrist the Lord. He
again convicts the Pharisees wise in their own conceits,
a reference to Lamp before Tabernacle.
289
who were conversant in the Law of Moses and that con- Chap. i.
stantly, of being ignorant, and rather seeming to be wise c ' v * ^'
than really having understanding of the Law. This then
is the whole aim of the discourse : but I think we ought,
bringing forward the Divine oracle itself, incontrovertibly
to shew that the blessed Baptist is not simply a lamp, but
one burning and shining.
When then God was ordaining the arrangements of the
holy tabernacle, after the completion of the ten curtains,
He saith to the hierophant Moses, And do thou command Exod.
the children of Israel and let them bring thee olive oil re- ™-'.?.°
fined pure beaten to bum for a light, that the lamp burn al- l.*™"'
ways in the tabernacle of the congregation without the vail,
which is upon the testament, Aaron and Us sons shall
burn it from evening to morning before the Lord : a statute
for ever unto your generations on the behalf of the children
of Israel : and tale thou unto thee Aaron thy brother and
his sons with him from among the children of Israel to min-
ister unto Me. Thus far the oracle of God, we must now
proceed to the interpretation of it as far as may be 5 . The * e V5« X o-
oil without lees and pure, seems to signify the most pure M "' r " ,
and undefiled Nature of the Holy Ghost, Which penetrating
us incomprehensibly like oil, nourishes and preserves and
increases the illumination in the soul, as in a lamp. And
thus we believe that the Divine Baptist also shed forth
the light of his testimony concerning our Saviour, having
received the power of being able to illuminate from no
other source than through the spiritual oil, which mightily
and effectually availeth to kindle within us the Divine
Light, to which also the Saviour Himself darkly alluded,
saying, I am come 'to cast fire on the earth and what s. Luke
will I, if it be already kindled? The blessed Baptist xiL 49,
then was again as in type the lamp, that was ever burn-
ing and shining in the tabernacle of testimony : and its
shining in the tabernacle of testimony shews full well
that his illumination was received in the churches, and
will not be outside the holy and Divine Tabernacle of the
Saviour. But the lamp being seen without the vail, seems
vol. i. xj
290 The lamp a type of 8. John Baptist. Apostles succeed.
Book 3.
c. v. 35.
S. Matth.
iv. 17.
Heb. ix.
8.
Exod.
xxvii. 21.
6 SaSov-
X'iau
torch-
bearing
1 irpoay-
yfAov
|«f
Isa. xl. 3,
S. Luke
vi. 13.
to shew that he will bring in a simpler introductory illumi-
nation, saying, Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven hath drawn
nigh ; but of the things hidden within the vail, to wit,
the mysteries of our Saviour, he revealeth nothing at all.
For he baptized not unto participation of the Holy Ghost,
nor did his illumination introduce within the vail : for
it was in the outer tabernacle, while yet standing, according
to the mouth of Paul. But when it says, that Aaron and
his sons shall burn it from evening to morning before the
Lord : a statute for ever unto your generations, I think we
ought to understand it after this sort. Aaron and his sons
signify those who execute the priest's office in the Churches
in their time, that is to say, the teachers therein and minis-
ters of the Divine Altars. These are commanded to keep
the spiritual lamp, that is, John, ever bright, for this is
the meaning of, They shall burn it from evening to morn-
ing. For the whole period during which the light of the
lamp was to appear, is the space of night, whereby is
signified the term of the present life. For by light we
understand the life to come. But the lamp burns or is
kept bright, by always making its illumination 6 percepti-
ble to those who believe in Christ, and by testifying
through the mouth of the Priests then being that it is
true in saying such things of Christ.
That God may teach thee, that by this He was pourtray-
ing the fore-messenger 7 of the Saviour, He straightway
subjoins the election of the Priests. You will attain again
to the whole scope of the passage by ruminating on some
such idea as this, and not amiss, as seems to me. On the
completion of the tabernacle the ordering of the lamp is
introduced, and immediately after, the appointment and
function of the priests. For at the completion of the law
and the Prophets, shone forth the voice of the forerunner
crying in the wilderness (as it is written) Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make straight the paths of our God; imme-
diately after whom is the ordination and manifestation of
the holy Apostles by Christ. For the Lord chose out
twelve, whom also He named Apostles.
Christ takes the part of His Forerunner.
291
Our consideration of the lamp being herein completed, Chap.i.
let us look again at the Voice of the Saviour. He was c ' y '* 5 '
(saith He) the burning and shining lamp, and ye were willing
for a season to rejoice in his light. He blames in the Pha-
risees their habit of mind unlearned and hard to be brought
to obedience and convicts them again of being sick with
incomparable ill-instructedness and not able to under-
stand even what they professed to know, and very far
indeed from an accurate knowledge of the law, wholly
ignorant of what the Lawgiver was pourtraying afore
in outline through Moses. For by saying that he was
the burning and shining lamp, He shames (it is like)
those who did not yet understand that which was long
ago too limned out in figures of the Law: by saying,
and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light, He
introduceth them again as ever preferring their own will to
the Divine Decree, and accustomed to follow only whom they
would. For whereas the lawgiver (says He) commanded the
lamp always to shine and be burning, ye were willing for
it to shine not always, but for a season only, that is for the
very briefest period. For ye at first marvelling quenched
(as far as you are concerned) the light of the lamp,
most unreasonably accusing him that was sent from God,
and not only yourselves refusing to be baptized, but also
forbidding him from baptizing others. For ye sent to him,
saying, Why baptizest thou then, that is, why dost thou en- Supra
lighten to repentance and the knowledge of Christ ? The l * 25,
Saviour then brought a charge alike of folly and trans-
gression of the Law upon the senseless Scribes and Pha-
risees, contending with them in behalf of the words of
John. This I think that the blessed Luke also under-
standing, most excellently declares and cries aloud against
their folly, saying, And all the people that heard, that s. Luke
is, the words of the Saviour, justified God, being baptized vii - 29 » 30 -
with the baptism of John : but the Pharisees and lawyers
rejected the counsel of God against themselves, being not bap-
tized of him.
u 2
292
The Son God who does the ivories of God;
lu> < !i *
Book 3. 36 But I have greater witness than that of John ; for the works
v. 36, 3/. which the Father hath given Me to finish, the very works
that I do, bear witness of Me that the Father hath sent
37 Me : and the Father Which sent Me He hath borne witness
of Me.
Even though lie was the lamp (saith He) both depicted
by the books of the law, and proclaimed afore by the voice
of the holy Prophets, that he should one day appear,
beaming before the true Light, and declaring among you,
that ye ought to put in good order the way of your Lord
and God: yet since he haply seemeth to you not trust-
worthy, albeit so great in virtue, by reason of your innate
unruly and most absurd folly, I proceed now to what is
greater, against which probably ye will say nothing,
ashamed before the very beauty of truth even against your
own will. For I am no longer receiving glory by the
words and judgements of men, nor shall I deem it need-
ful to collect testimonies to Myself from bare words, but I
will commit My affairs to witness more credible and far
greater than these, and from the very magnificence of My
deeds I make manifest that I am God by Nature, and of
God the Father, and I nothing wrong Mine Own laws, trans-
ordering them to whatsoever I will, and trans -elementing
things which were darkly spoken to those of old, from the
grossness of the letter to spiritual contemplation.
But let him that loves learning consider again that the
Saviour by saying that He is well witnessed to by His works
as to His being by Nature God, teaches clearly, that it was
not possible that God-befitting Operation and Power should
8 Anapa- k e { n a \\ exactitude 8 in any one, unless he too were by Na-
ture God. For He is testified of by His works, in no oUher
way (I suppose) save this. For if He is seen a Finisher a of
the works of His Father, and whatever things are more
suited to Him Alone, these He too accomplisheth by His
Own Power : how shall it not be clear to every one, that
He hath obtained the Same Nature with Him, and Kadiant
a reXeiurijs, referring to the words, Me to finish them.
The works which the Father hath given.
as God has, as Man, receives. 293
with the Properties of the Father, as being of Him, hath
Equal Power and Operation with Him?
Yet He says He hath received the Works from Him
. either by reason of the garb of human nature and servant's
form speaking more lowlily that was needful, and this
economically, or extolling by the title of gift the good
Pleasure and Approval of the Father, in regard to all His
wondrous Miracles. For thus does He affirm that He was
also sent, m that He emptied Himself, as it is written of
His unalloyed » God-befitting Dignity by reason of His
Love for us. For He humbled Himself, and we shall find
the lowliness of this His humbling Himself in no other
ways than in those whereby He sometimes speaks as Man
To this agreeth that which is said by the Psalmist of Him
m human wise for our sakes, I was set a King by Him
upon Sum His Holy Mountain declaring the Law of the Lord
For He That is King for ever with the Father, Co-en-
throned and Co-seated, as God with God who begat Him
says that He has been ordained 1 King and Lord, saying
that what as God He had, He received when He was
made Man to whom reigning is not inherent by nature
but both the title and reality of lordship are wholly from
without.
Chap. 1.
v. 3d, 37.
Phil. ii. 7
9 aicparccs
lb. 8.
Ps. ii.
6,7
LXX.
1 Kexeipo-
rovrjirdai
lit
11*
**
CHAPTER II.
That the Son is the Image of God the Father, wherein also is an
exposure of the Jews as not understanding the words darkly uttered
by Moses.
Ye have neither heard His Voice at any time nor seen His
38 Form and ye have not His Word abiding in you, for Whom
He hath sent, Him ye believe not.
One may see that not simple is the arrangement of ideas
poured forth upon the passage before under consideration,
but that it is a swarm of hidden contemplations, which
very easily escapes the mind of uncritical hearers, and
haply admits of being seen by those only who investigate
* n-iKpore- more keenly 1 . For what was it (will one perchance say)
that induced Jesus, when He was saying that He was borne
witness to by His God-befitting Operation, to come to
something most exceeding remote as though it belonged
to the subject? I mean that the Pharisees had neither at any
time heard the Voice of God the Father nor seen His Form
nor yet had His Word abiding in them. And I will agree,
and so I suppose will every one else, that not without some
cause is this their difficulty. What sense then we shall
adapt to the passage before us, and what again we, on
all sides holding by the truth, searching shall provide
ourselves with, by the Operation and grace of the Spirit
I will endeavour to tell forth.
It is the custom of the Saviour Christ, when often mak-
ing useful discourses with the unskilled Pharisees, to gaze
into the depths of their heart, and to consider in God-
befitting manner the reasonings still dumbly revolved and
stirred up in their mind, and to these in particular to direct
both His answers and words and exposures, and He does
not altogether keep the thread of His own words unpassed,
The Son God, Who answers unuttered thoughts. 295
but to what they are counselling and imagining in them- Chap. 2.
selves, to this He keenly replies, and by it shews that He v ' 37 ' 38 '
is by Nature God, as knowing what lies in the depth and
searching the hearts and reins. If any one will, let him
receive the most clear demonstration hereof, from the other
Evangelists, I mean Luke and his companions. It is writ-
ten then in the Gospels, that there were once gathered
together from all the region round about Judea, Pharisees s Llllw
and doctors of the law. And, behold (he says) men bearing \- 17 -
on a bed a man which was taken with a palsy, and they were 1B^23.
seeking to bring him in and to lay him before him ; and when
they found not by what way they might bring him in because
of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him
down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before
Jesus. And when He saw their faith, He said unto him,
Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. And the scribes and the
Pharisees began to reason saying, Who is This which speak-
eth blasphemies ? who can forgive sins but One, God ? But
when Jesus perceived (it says) their thoughts, Be answering
said unto them, Wliat are ye reasoning in your hearts? whether
is easier to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, Rise
and walk ? Seest thou how He not waiting their answer
or murmuring in utterance of words, answers as God their
inward thoughts? You will find again another example
too, fashioned after this same manner. For thus says the
blessed Luke, And it came to pass also on another sabbath lb. vi.
that He entered into the Synagogue and taught, and there & ~ 9 '
was a man there ivhose right hand was withered. Arid the
Scribes and Pharisees watched Him whether He would heal
on the sabbath day, that they might find an accusation against
Him : but He knew (it says) their thoughts and said to the
man which had the withered hand, Rise up and stand forth
in the midst. And he arose and stood forth. And Jesus
said unto them, I will ask you, Is it lawful on the sabbath
day to do good or to do evil ? Seest thou again evidently
herein, that He framed His words as looking into the very
heart of those who were foolishly trying to accuse Him?
Something of this sort again in the passage too before us
*:
is s
296
Recapitulation of our Lord's speech
Book 3. we will suppose to have been seen by the Saviour in the
' ' hearts of the Pharisees. But you will see that the dis-
course does not spurn the right line, or order of the sub-
ject, if you do not shrink from going over again each of
those things which have been already said.
This great long discourse with them took its begin-
ning about the man that was healed on the Sabbath Day,
and by manifold devices and arguments was Christ endea-
vouring to persuade those who were waywardly vexed at
the healing on the sabbath, that it is lawful even to have
compassion on the sabbath, and to do good to all, and be-
sides, that the Law made the rest of the sabbath a sha-
dow of a most note-worthy reality; moreover having in
their judgement broken the honour of the sabbath, and
hereby specially transgressed the law, He was affirming
and that very strongly, that He had been sent by God the
Father, and further was clearly telling them that He was
borne witness unto by Him, and was well-pleasing to Him
in all that He did. To these things (as far at least as the
evidence of the arguments goes) the Pharisees again are
reasoning with themselves (as waiting on the writings of
the law, and ever holding out as a pretext the commands
through Moses, and saying they had read) "What does
this Man say? how will God the Father be well-pleased
with one who breaks the Law ? when has He testified, or
what judgement did He give concerning Him ? For we
know from the Mosaic writings that God descended upon
Mount Sinai, and His Face was seen by the fathers, and
His V&fce (say they) was heard : He spake to the whole
Synagogue, and commanded them to keep the Sabbath
Exod.xx. Day, clearly commanding thus. Remember the sabbath day
to keep it holy, six days shalt thou labour and do all thy
work, but on the seventh day is a holy sabbath to the Lord
thy God : in it thou shalt not do any work. And none other
(say they) heard we saying these things : the multitude
of the fathers was ear-witness to the Voice from God, and
after them the Word of God was in us : But who is
This?
; ] V-
' i .1 •
r
God unseen unheard at the giving of the Law. 297
When He perceived that they were thus imagining, He Chap. 2.
exposes them as keenly ignorant 3 , saying, Ye have neither s' 8 '''? 8 '
heard His Voice at any time nor seen His Form, and ye ^eai-
have not His Word abiding in you, for whom He sent,
Him ye believe not. For the things done in a type at that
time, and why the descent of God upon Mount Sinai was
figured out to them, these things they knowing nothing
of, received them not as images of spiritual realities, but
were imagining that the Divine Nature could actually be
seen with the eyes of the body, and believed that He used
a bodily voice. But that the Word of the Saviour to them
was true, and that they neither at any time heard the Voice
of God the Father, nor had any one with bodily vision
seen His Form, that is, the Word in all things like unto
Him, I think that we ought again to shew clearly, bring-
ing to spiritual investigation and test the things written
in Exodus. It says thus, And Moses brought forth the peo- ib.
pie out of the camp to meet with God ; and they stood at the gfi ig
nether part of the mount. And mount Sinai was altogether
on a smolce, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and
the smolce thereof was going up as the smoJce of a furnace,
and the whole people quaked greatly. And the voices of
the trumpet sounded, going forth exceeding mighty, Moses
spake, and God answered him by a voice. Thus far then
the oracle of the all-wise Moses : but I think we ought
now too to convict the Jews of stumbling into a most ab-
surd idea of God, imagining that they had both seen His
Form, and heard the Voice actually inherent in the Divine
Nature.
Come then taking courage in the bounty and grace of the
Saviour,- let us refine the grossness of the letter of the law
into spiritual contemplation: for so will that be shewn
to be true which was said to the Pharisees of God; Ye
have neither heard His Voice at any time nor seen His
Form. The people then being brought forth by Moses ib. 17.
to meet God, as it is written, will be a manifest sign
and token as in enigma, that none can unled and un-
instructed come to God, but by the law are they led to the
is,'!
in
298
Manliness of Christ's own. Mountain, smoke,
Book 3.
v. 37, 38.
S. Luke
xvi. 29.
Rom.
viii. 35.
3 Karave-
avisvcrov-
ICor.
xiii. 12.
Ps. xviii,
11.
knowledge of the things which they seek to learn. For
Moses will be understood to be put for the Law, accord-
ing as is said by a certain one, They have Moses and the
Prophets. But the standing by under the mount, when
God had now descended and was on it, signifies the readi-
ness of disposition and resolve of those who are called
to serve Him, not refusing in any way to apply themselves
even to things above their power and superior to their na-
ture, while God is with them. Such in all respects are
they who are partakers of the Saviour. Wherefore they
practising manliness above men say, Who shall separate us
from the Love of Christ ? shall tribulation or distress or per-
secution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? for all
dreadful things are tolerable to the godly for love of Christ,
and though tribulation should rise up as a mountain, they
will rise superior 3 against all danger, and will not with-
draw their mind from love to God. But God is said to come
down, not upon any low ground, but somewhere on high
and on a mountain is He seen, that you may think some
such thing as this with yourself, that although the Divine
Nature condescending to our understandings, brings Itself
to our conception, yet is It exceeding far above us, both in
words and thoughts. For the height and intensity of
the doctrines respecting It, are signified by the mountain,
which he tells us was wholly darkened with smoke. For
keen indeed and not very clear to us are words respecting
the Godhead, wounding like smoke the eyes of the under-
standing. Therefore the most wise Paul testified that we
see through a glass and' darkly : the Psalmist again says
that He, that is, God, made darkness His secret place, under
the name of darkness hinting the Incomprehensibleness
around Him, whereof the smoke about the fire on the mount
may well be taken as a type. But the Godhead Itself des-
cended in the form of fire, at that particular time, fittingly
and of necessity for the nature of the thing. For it be-
hoved, it behoved that He Who called Israel unto bondage
and understanding through the law that should be put
forth, should appear as an Enlightener and an Avenger.
voices of trumpet. Voice created by God, not His. 299
And both these ends are accomplished by fire. Yea, and the
voices of the trumpet (saith he) sounded, going forward
exceeding mighty, that some such effect of ideas again
may be wrought for us : for the Law too was proclaimed
by God, yet not continuously at first, by reason of the in-
firmity of the pupils, but stammeringly, so to say, and not
with the whole force of the trumpeter. Wherefore Moses
too called himself slow of speech. But as time advances,
and carries forward the believers in Christ from the shadow
in the letter to the spiritual worship, the voices of the Di-
vine trumpet waxed exceeding mighty, the saving and Gos-
pel preaching resounding in a way through the whole
earth. For not as the Law, feeble-voiced and petty-herald-
ing 4 , was this heard in the country of the Jews only, or
proclaimed from Dan to Beersheba, but rather, Their voice
went forth into all the earth, as it is written. And what
besides ? Moses spake (saith he) and God answered him by
a voice.
Keen be again the mind of the more studious, accur-
ately let it observe the stability inherent in the Divine
Oracles. For Moses speaks, and God answers him by a
voice, not surely by His Own Voice, for this it does not
say, but simply and absolutely by a voice, wrought won-
drously in more human" wise by sound of words. For in
respect of what work will God be powerless ? What that
God wills shall He not perform, and that full readily?
Therefore Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
Herein is the type, let us see the truth. You have there-
fore in the holy Gospels the Lord speaking, Father, glorify
Thy Son*, and the Father answering by a voice, I both
glorified, and will glorify again. The Saviour shewed -that
this is not truly the voice of God the Father, by saying to
those who were then present, This voice was made 5 not
because of Me, but for your sokes. Thou "seest how He
clearly affirmed that the Voice was made 6 , since it is not
meet to suppose that the Divine Nature useth a v>oice
a S. Cyril seems to have had both The uncial Ms. L reads also Son in
Name and Son in his Mss. cf. below place of Name.
among his fragments on cap. xii. 28.
Chap. 2.
v. 37, 38.
Exod.
xix. 19.
lb. iv. 10.
4 XfTTTO-
@6r)S T€
Ka\ fffju-
KpoKr)pv£
Vs. xix.
4.
Exod.
xix. 19.
cf. supra
p. 46.
Infra xii.
28.
lb. 30.
5 yeyovev
6 yeytvr)-
ffdai
I
300 The Father seen in the Son; Jews thought to see Him apart.
Book 3.
v. 37, 38.
>i : ■
i#
I*
Jer. viii.
8.9LXX,
"i ivvivd-
aruTov
Wisdom
xiii. 5.
cf. Rom.
i. 20.
Infra x.
37, 38.
Infra xiv,
9.
with a sound, though It conform Itself to our needs and
speak like us, economically.
These considerations were of necessity brought into our
present discourse : we deemed it altogether needful that
Jesus should be shewn to the readers speaking truth,
when He is found saying of His Father, Ye have neither
heard His Voice at any time nor seen His shape, and ye
have not His Word abiding in you, for Whom He hath
sent, Him ye believe not. That the Pharisees puffed up
unto strange boasting, were wont to pretend that the Di-
vine Word was with them and in them, and therefore fool-
ishly affirmed that they had advanced to marvellous wis-
dom, the Spirit Itself will testify, since Christ says by
the Prophet Jeremiah unto them, How do ye say, We are
wise, and the word of the Lord is with us ? For nought to
the scribes became their lying pen ; the wise men were ashamed,
were dismayed and taken ; what wisdom is in them ? because
they rejected the word of the Lord. For how are they not
taken rejecting the Living and Hypostatic 7 Word of God,
receiving not the faith to Him-ward, but dishonouring the
Impress of God the Father, and refusing to behold His
most true Form (so to say) through His God-befit-
ting Authority and Power ? For the Divine and Ineffable
Nature is in no other wise apprehended (so far as may be)
by us, than through what It effects and works, therefore
Paul directs us to go from the greatness and beauty of
the creatures proportionably unto the contemplation of the
Creator, the Saviour again leads us to the apprehending
of Himself, saying, If I do not the works of My Father,
believe Me not; but if I do, though ye believe not Me, believe
My works. And with great reason did He blame His own
disciple (this was Philip) who imagined thoughtlessly that
he could in any other way attain to the contemplation of
God the Father, albeit it was in his power to consider His
Uncreated Image, which shews accurately in Himself Him
Who begat Him. Wherefore He said, So long time am
I with you, and hast thou not known Me Philip ? he that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
I i
W-
39
40
Scriptures vainly searched if Christ neglected. 301
Ye search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal ^ " ^'aq'
life, and they are they which testify of Me, and ye will not
come to Me that ye might have life.
The smooth, and passable to the many, and beaten ex-
planation of the passage persuades us to suppose that it
was spoken in the imperative mood by our Saviour to
the Pharisees, that they ought to search the Divine Scrip-
tures and gather testimonies concerning Him unto life.
But since by interposing the conjunction (I mean, And)
He joins on the clause, Ye will not come to Me, He evi-
dently signifies something else, akin to what has been
said, but a little different. For if it were to be taken im-
peratively, how should we not say it was necessary to say
the whole sentence in some such fashion as this, Search
the Scriptures for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and
they are they which testify of Me ; but when ye have search-
ed, come to Me ? But He is blaming them for not choos-
ing to come, although led to it by the search, saying, And
"•g will not come to Me.
We will then, looking to what is more profitable and
agreeable to what preceded, read it not imperatively, but
rather as in connection 8 and with a comma. Of this kind s <?„ avv .
again will be the meaning of the passage before us. For €<m
when He saw that they were ever running to the books
of Moses, and ignorantly collecting thence materials for
gainsaying, but seeking for nothing else, nor receiving
what would avail them for due belief: needs therefore
does He shew them that their labour in searching for
these things is useless and unprofitable, and clearly con-
victs them of exercising themselves in a great and most
profitable occupation in a way not becoming its use. For
what tell me (saith He) is the use of your searching the
Divine Scriptures, and supposing that by them ye will
attain unto everlasting life, but when ye find that they
testify of Me and call Me everlasting life, ye will not
come to Me that ye might have life ? Whence then ye
ought to be saved (He saith) ye perceive not that thence
*<»
1
Supra
ver. 40.
H ■'
l#
i*
111
1!
302 The Son hath glory though man ivithhold it.
Book 3. ye get the greatest damage to your own souls, ye who
' ' are sharpened from the Mosaic books only unto gainsaying,
but the things whereby ye could gain eternal life, ye do
not so much as receive into your minds.
For that in the Law and the holy Prophets there is
much said concerning Him Who is by Nature Life, that
is the Only-Begotten, will I think be plain to all who are
lovers of learning.
41 42 / receive not honour from man, but I know you, that ye
have not the Love of God in you.
He perceives again, yea rather He sees in a God-befitting
way, that the stubborn and contumacious band of the Pha-
risees were cut to the heart, and that not altogether at
being accused of not searching the Divine Scriptures as
they ought, but rather at His saying, Ye will not come to
Me. For what diseases themselves easily fall into, these
they think can take hold of the Saviour also. For they
imagined (it seems) of their great folly that the Lord
was ambitious, and wished to obtain for Himself honour
from all, through His calling them to be His disciples.
Having got some such surmise as this into their minds,
they expected to be deprived forthwith of their authority
over the nation : they were cut to the heart in no slight
degree at seeing the Heir desirous of demanding the fruit
of the vineyard. Wherefore, as far as pertains to their
wrath and envy at what is said, they all but say what is in
S. Matth. the Grospel parables, Oome, let us hill Him and let us
xxi. 38. nave j£i s inheritance. Taking away then their surmise the
offspring of emptine'ss 9 , and plucking up beforehand by the
roots the shoots of envy and evil eye, He says downright,
I receive not honour from m,an. For I do not (says He) call
My hearers to discipleship under Me, as though hunting
for honour from you, or from others, as ye do, nor do I re-
ceive this as the reward of My teaching, having most full
glory from Myself, and not short of that from you, but
I said that ye would not come to ife, because I know well,
that ye have not the love of God in you. And being desti-
» ci/caio
TJJTOS
r
Jews rejecting Christ will receive Anti-christ. 303
tute of Love to God (says He) Low should ye come to Chap. 2.
Me, Who am the Only Begotten, God of God? v#43,44 -
43 I am come in My Fathers Name, and ye receive Me not : if
another shall come in his own name, him ye ivill receive.
In order that the Pharisees might not think that the
Lord was idly railing at them, from His saying, Ye have Supra
not the love of God in you, He immediately adds this also to Ver ' 42 '
the above, shewing that the saying is true. That I do not
lie (says He) in saying that ye are bereft of love towards
God, I will set before you by one thing. For I came in
My Father's Name (for I am persuading you zealously to
perform all things to the glory of God the Father) but ye
shook off from you by your unbelief Him That cometh
from above and proceedeth 1 from God : but ye will surely i 4p/tl $.
receive (for as God, I know things to come) the falsely- ^ vov
called, who does not offer the glory to God the Father,
and demands credence from you, yet works in his own
name. Whence I suppose the blessed Paul too, having un-
derstanding, says something true concerning the Jews
and the son of transgression, Because they received not the 2Thess.
love of the truth, that they might he saved, for this cause God
sendeth b them an operation of error, that they should believe
a lie, that they all might be doomed who believed not the
truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. This then which
is said is a proof that the Pharisees were not slandered
by our Saviour Christ with empty words, for it introduces
a prophecy of an event which should come to pass in
its time.
44 How can ye believe, which receive glory of men, and seek not
the glory that is of the only God ?
He accuses the Pharisees of love of rule and of pri-
zing honours from men, covertly hinting that they do ex-
ceeding ill, in unadvisedly putting the diseases of their own
soul upon God Who can by no means know disease. Next
" j6>7T€t, sendeth. This, in place of the uncial Mss. A. B. and the codex
the future shall send, is the reading of Sinaiticus.
ii.10— 12.
304 Empty glory. God One. Christ too will accuse.
"";-#
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h
; :;|
W
'ii
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Book 3.
c. v. 45.
Gal. i. 10.
Supra pp.
53,265
&c.
2 avafial-
vu
Infra ix.
27.
lb. 28.
S. Matth.
x. 32, 33.
He says that they, fast held by vain glory, thereby lose the
fairest prize, meaning faith in Him : whereof Paul too speak -
eth clearly to us: for if (says he) I were yet pleasing men,
I should not be Christ's servant. It usually then as of
necessity befalls those who hunt for honours from men, to fail
of the glory that cometh from above and from the only God, as
saith the Saviour. He says only,. opposing God to the gods
of the Gentiles, and not excluding Himself from the honour
of the Only. For as we have often said already, the Full-
ness of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity mounteth up 2
to One Nature and glory of Godhead.
45 Do not think that I will accuse yoti to the Father; there is
that accuseth you, Moses, in whom ye have hoped.
Having said that the Pharisees cared more to live vain-
gloriously than piously, and having taught that hence they
turned aside to unmeasured unbelief, He says that they
were accused by Moses himself, of whom it was their cus-
tom to boast very vehemently. And indeed when the man
who was blind from his birth once said to them of Christ,
Will ye also be His disciples ? immediately they cry out and
say openly, Thou art His disciple, but we are Moses' disciples.
Even Moses himself therefore (says He) shall accuse you, in
whom ye put all your hope, and he despised with the rest
will denounce before God your innate folly. And we do
not deem that they who believe not in Him will be without
blame from Christ, by reason of His saying to the Jews,
Do not thinh that I will accuse you to the Father. For what
shall we say when we hear Him saying, Whosoever there-
fore shall confess Me before men, him will I too confess be-
fore My Father which is in Heaven : but whosoever shall
deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father
which is in Heaven ? shall we not reasonably suppose,
that they shall be accused to God the Father for their
denial, who meet with this from Christ ? But I suppose
this is clear to every one. The Jews then are not surely
free from accusal who have through long unbelief denied
Christ, but this applies to them most naturally. For
since they shook off His admonitions, and made no ac-
Moses would lead, else will accuse. 305
count of His Divine and Heavenly teaching, but are ever Chap. 2.
J D c. v. 46.
about duly keeping the Mosaic law, so as to be seen at
length even more nakedly crying out, We know that God infra ix.
hath spoken unto Moses, this man we know not from whence
He is : — most necessarily does He convict them of trans-
gressing against that Moses, in whom they boast, and says
that they need no other accuser, but that the law given
through him will alone suffice for their with reason being
accused for their unbelief in Him, even though the Voice
of the Judge, that is, Christ, should be dumb.
46 For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me : for
of Me he wrote.
Having said that the Jews would be accused by the
all-wise Moses, and would undergo indictment at his hands
for their unbelief in Him; He profitably subjoins these
things also, teaching that He was not finding fault with
them for nothing, or otherwise repudiating the suspicion
of being given to railing, for it is evident that He is making
no untrue speech. Be it then (saith He) that ye reject
My words, I will bear with not being believed : receive your
own Moses, give credence to him whom ye admire, and
ye shall know of a surety Him whom not knowing ye dis-
honour. Break off your types which travail with the truth.
For I am shadowed out in his books. Therefore will Moses
himself also accuse you (saith He) when he seeth you dis-
believing his writings about Me.
We ought then perhaps having interpreted what is be-
fore us, to proceed in order, committing it to sincere lovers
of learning to investigate the images of Christ through
Moses. For his books are full of passages, and there is
much said by him, yet full of difficulty to understand and
replete with exceeding subtle and hidden meanings. But
lest we seem to let indolence have the mastery over us,
and unreasonably to shirk so glorious a toil, by simply
clothing with difficulty the books of Moses, we will apply
ourselves to this too, knowing what is written, The Lord Ps. Ixviii.
will give utterance to them who evangelize with much power.
VOL. I. X
306 Moses typified Christ's Mystery manifoldly.
Book 3.
c. v. 46.
But since there are, as we have said, many words on
these things, and since the all-wise Moses hath through
many forms foretypified the Mystery of Christ, we shall not
deem it necessary to heap up a great multitude before our
readers, but having chosen one out of the whole number,
we will essay to make clear proof that the Word of our
Saviour was true, which He spake to the Jews, saying,
If ye had believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, for of
Me he wrote.
CHAPTER III.
That Moses was indicating the Coming of the Saviour.
From Deuteronomy, concerning Christ.
The Lord thy God (it says) will raise up unto thee a Pro- Deut
phet from thy brethren, like unto me, Him shall ye hear; fT^{ q
according to all that thou desiredst of the Lord thy God in
Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let us not hear
again the voice of the Loed our God, neither let us see this
great fire any more, nor let us die : and the Loed said unto
line, Well is all which they spake : I will raise them up a Pro-
phet from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put
My word in His Mouth, and He shall speak unto them as I
shall command Him. And the man who shall not hearken
unto what the Prophet shall speak in My Name, I will require
it of him. Deuteronomy is a kind of repetition and sum-
mary of the Mosaic books : it is not therefore possible to
take from it a type and image of the legal priesthood. Yet
since we are not accustomed to be without understanding,
who in all think rightly by Christ's aid, we will tell our
readers and throw open the meaning of the passage in
hand : Lo again is the mystery of Christ plainly told us,
skilfully moulded by most subtle contemplation from like-
ness to Moses. For (says he) a Prophet shall the Lord i b- 15
your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me :
himself explaining, and that unflinchingly 1 , what is the idea i T opy«s
•which from the likeness to himself his declaration intro-
duces to us, clearly subjoins, According to all that thou lb. 16.
desiredst of the Loed thy God in the mount Sinai in the
day of the assembly, saying, Let us not hear any more the
voice of the Loed our God, neither let us see this great fire
any more, and let us not die. For he affirms that himself
x 2
308
Christ exact Mediator God and
Book 3.
c. v. 46.
h *
f| I
■mi-
; ii p
a
.*•
1 Cor. ii.
10.
Exod.
xxxiii. 20.
Infra xv.
15.
Infra xii.
49.
- avrrj
was at that time spoken of as a mediator, the Synagogue
of the Jews being yet powerless to have to do with things
above nature, and therefore prudently declining things
above their power. For such was the sight of God, sur-
prising the vision with unwonted sights, and the echoes
of the trumpets supernatural and intolerable to the hearers.
Therefore the mediation of Moses was instituted as me-
dicine of infirmity for those at that time, ministering to
the synagogue the things decreed of God. You will trans-
fer again the type to the truth, and will hereby conceive
of Christ, the Mediator of God and men, ministering to
the more teachable by means of human voice (when for
our sakes He was born of a woman) the Ineffable Will of
God the Father, made known to Him Alone, in that He
is conceived of as both Son, of Him, and Wisdom, know-
ing all things, yea the deep things of God. For since it
was not possible for the eyes of the body to fasten them-
selves upon the untempered and bare Divine and Ineffable
glory of the Essence which surpasseth all things (for there
shall no man (saith He) see My Face, and live :) needs was
the Only-Begotten Word of God co-fashioned after our in-
firmities, clothed in this human body according to the In-
effable mode of the economy, and manifesting to us the
counsel from above, that is of God the Father, saying, All
things that I heard of My Father, these will I declare unto
you, and again, For I spake not of Myself but the Father
which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment what I should
say and what I should spealc. Therefore as an image of the
mediation, Moses of old may be considered a type of Christ,
ministering most excellently to the children of Israel the
things appointed from God : but the mediation of Moses
was ministrative, that of Christ is free and more mystical,
in that He takes hold by Nature of the things mediated and
reaches unto both, I mean the manhood that is mediated
and God the Father.
For He was by Nature God, as the Only -Begotten of
God, as not separated from the Essence of Him Who be-
gat Him, and in-being in It 2 , as He is conceived to be
Man. Like Moses otherwise too. To unbelief, wrath. 309
also of it. But He was Man too, in that He became Flesh. Chap. 3.
c. v. 4C.
likening Himself to us, that through Him that which is
by nature far separated might be conjoined to God. When
then Moses says, A Prophet shall the Lord raise up unto
you Mice unto me, you will understand it no other wise than
we have just said. Since God Himself also sets His seal
on the word saying, Well is all which they spake; I will D£ ;Ut.
raise them up a Prophet like unto thee, and will put My 17, 18.
Words upon Him, and He shall speak unto them according to
all that I shall command Him. For the Son upholdeth all Heb. i. 3.
things by the ivord of His Power, as Paul saith, and telleth
us the words of the Father, inasmuch as He is ordained a
Mediator by Him, as is sung in the Psalms, as of Christ
Himself, And I was set King by Him upon Sion His holy Ps.ii.6,7.
Mountain, declaring the decree of the Lord.
But if it seem good to any, by other considerations also
to attain unto the mode of likeness, he will understand
Like unto me as lawgiver, and will bring forward as proof
the words, It was said by them of old, Thou shalt not com- S. Matth.
J J v. 27,28.
mit adultery, but I say unto you, Thou shalt not lust. He
will understand again like unto me, saying that He is a kind
of leader and master unto the being able to understand
the will of the Father, and to the things whereby there is
the high road into the Kingdom of Heaven : just as to
them of old too the blessed Moses appeared a teacher
of the instruction through the Law, adding everywhere
to his own words, That thou mayest live long, and that \ y \ ^ u y \
the Lord thy God may bring thee into the land which ^> xi -.?»
He sware to thy fathers. But since he subjoined to what 7.
has been said, And the man that will not hear what the^ e ^\ n
. .... xviu. 19.
Prophet shall speak in My Name, I iv ill require it of him ;
let the ignorant Jews, who harden their minds to most
utter stubbornness, consider that they are pouring self-
invited destruction upon their own heads. For they shall
be under Divine wrath, receiving the total loss of good
things as the wages of their rage against Christ. For if
they had believed Moses, they would have believed Christ,
for of Him he wrote.
310
Moses' writings not superior, but if
Jl- '\
Irr ; ' ; '
!lin :
: j > ■ i*
t j : - '
Book 3.
c. v. 47. 47 ^J M £ y y e fi e ii eve n0 ( fag writings^ }i QW shall ye believe My
Words ?
The verse might appear to a person, and with good rea-
son, to have great obscurity. For he might even without
being out of the mark, take to untrue surmises, supposing
that the books of Moses excel the words of the Saviour.
For the verse hath some such appearance, and as far as
one can say, taking it without accurate consideration, it
furnishes to the Mosaic writings a more worthy repute
than to the words of the Saviour. For by saying, If ye
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My Words, He
somehow gives us to understand that the writings of Moses
are in a superior position to His Own words. But the
very nature of the thing will shew that this so incredible
idea is replete with the extremest folly : for how shall
the writings of Moses be conceived to excel the words of
the Saviour, when his were types and shadows, Christ's
the truth? And it would not perhaps be hard to expend
much reasoning hereupon : but things which are obvious
and receive their proof, not from without, but from them-
selves, I think it superfluous to say that they are not in ill
case or the reverse. For why should one waste time mak-
8 v0£ T °" * n £ ^ ne distinctions 3 about such things, and mince up 4
*KUT<xKep. -what is by no means hard into unseasonable babblings ?
Some such meaning as this then hath that which is said
by the Saviour. If (says He) ye who have the Law written
by Moses, and thoroughly study his writings, make no ac-
count of transgression of them, burying in strange oblivion
that which is full often read, how will ye be better disposed
to My Words, or how will ye shew yourselves more ready
and more obedient to My sayings, since ye have not often
nor always attended them, but hear them by the way, and
scarce once admit them into the bodily ears ? You shall
either clothe the verse in this dress, or you may consider
5 xpyvro- it in another way: for to love of learning 5 belongs the
Ma labour and research herein. The writings of Moses then
introduce a kind of preparation for, and typical outline
their clear teaching rejected, what hope yet ? 311
of the Mysteries of Christ, and the elements, so to say, Chap, 8.
of knowledge of Him are the things limned in Moses, as °' V " ^'
we shewed more at large by the things already examined.
But the end of the instruction of the Law is Christ, accord-
ing as it is written, Christ is the fulfilment of the law and cf. Rom.
the Prophets. They then (saith He) who received not the *' *'
elements of the beginning of the words* of God, and in their Heb. v.
folly thrust away the Law which by its clearer letter lead- 12,
eth them, how shall they attain to yet more perfect know-
ledge ? or how will the greater be acceptable, if that which
is little and inferior be by no means admitted?
a \6yo>y, as reads the uncial Ms. D. in place of \oyiuv.
CHAPTEE IV.
That oftentimes the departures of Christ from Jerusalem sig-
nify the transferring of His grace to the Gentiles : wherein is also
the discourse of the five barley loaves and the two little fishes.
Chap. vi. And after these things Jesus departed across the sea of
Tiberias.
\uh
W
1 woXujie-
pas, as
Heb. i. 1,
Supra
v.5.
S. Matth.
ix. 6.
First I think it needful to tell my hearers, that the Lord
evidently did not make His departures from Jerusalem
without some most necessary reason. There is an eco-
nomy on almost every occasion, and on the nature of things,
as on a tablet, He inscribes mysteries. Of what nature
then is the intent of the departure, and what is signified
thereby, we will make manifest in its proper time, the
chapters before us having reached their termination. For
having divided every thing into sections, and interpreted
what is profitable out of the Scriptures, and so set them
before our readers for their understanding, we will offer
the final consideration of the whole, epitomising in a sum-
mary what has been said in many portions 1 . But I think
we ought to speak first on what is now before us.
After these things (saith he) Jesus departed across the sea
of Tiberias. After what things, must be sought not negli-
gently. Christ then was manifested in Jerusalem as a
wondrous Physician. He had healed the man who had
been thirty and eight years in his infirmity, not by giving
him any medicine, not by devising any disease-repelling
remedy, but rather by a word, as God, by Almighty
Authority and God-befitting beck : for Arise (saith He)
take up thy bed, and go unto thy house. But since it was
Hir
Theparalytichealed, the Jews unhealed. Why Christ departs. 313
xxxiv. 18.
the sabbath, the Jews are ignorantly angry, who were sick c " a p- 4.
with the grossness of the letter, who more than he, were
bound by the folly that was their foster brother, who
were sick of the listless want of all good things alike,
who were paralytic in mind and enfeebled in habit, to
whom might with reason be said, Strengthen ye, ye wealc isa.xxxv.
hands and ye palsied knees. But they are angry, saying 3 *
that the honour due to the sabbath ought to be paid
even by the Law-giver Himself; they condemn Christ as
a transgressor, not admitting into their mind what is
written, Impious is he who says to a Jang, Thou transgresscst ? Job
For these things they received sharp reproofs from the
Saviour, and much and long discourse was prepared to
shew that the rest of the sabbath had been typically or-
dained for them of old and that the Son of Man is Lord S. Matth.
of the sabbath. But they prepared to no good thing, but
full ready for all waywardness, rise up against Him Who
teacheth what they ought to learn, and desire to kill Him
who would make them wise, rewarding Him, as it is written, -
evil for good. f|; xxxv -
After these deeds therefore and words, the Lord, as of
necessity, departs from Jerusalem, and since the Jeivs' Pas- infra
sover a was nigh (as we shall find a little further on) He ver " *
sailed across the sea of Tiberias, or the lake in the country
of the Jews so called. But since what principally drove
Him away, and induced Him to withdraw and to go to
other places and those so far removed from Jerusalem, was
(we have just said) that the Jews' Passover was nigh, I think
a The words, the Jews' Passover, here
and just below have been retained in the
text as there is no manuscript authority
for omitting them. But the whole con-
text indicates that the true reading is,
i] hopr)) roiv lovSalav, the Jews' feast
(though no known MS. of the Gospels
is cited as so reading); for the whole
scope of the passage that follows is
upon the Feast of Tabernacles, not the
Passover. S. Cyril appears to take this
chapter as contemporaneous in time
with chapter 7, in the commentary on
which no notice is taken of verse 2,
Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was
at hand, except as forming the heading
of the chapter (Book iv chapter v). It
was pointed out to me some years ago
by the Rev. F. J. A. Hort, that an old
Latin translation of this work by George
of Trebizond omits the mention of the
passover here. But George of Trebizond
lived in the fifteenth Century and does
not appear to have had access to any
Ms. better or at all differing from that
from which Cod. Vat. and Cod. S. Marci,
Venice are co-transcripts, and moreover
his translation is very free and often of
the nature of an abstract rather than
a translation. It becomes impossible
therefore to lay any stress on bis onus,
sion of the words.
314 Feast of Tabernacles what. People easily sivayed.
Book 3.
cap. vi. 1.
*J
' : ii.
[<•**
■th
i ' '
4 w
Infra
vii. 1.
lb. 3.
it fitting to shew that exceeding well did Jesus eschew
being found in Jerusalem at that time.
The Law of Moses then commanded that the Jews should
hasten from the whole country round about to Jerusalem,
there to celebrate in a type the feast of tabernacles.
And the spiritual person will thence perceive the gather-
ing together of all the Saints into Christ, when they shall
be brought together from the whole world after the re-
surrection of the dead to the city which is above, the
heavenly Jerusalem, there to offer the thank-offerings of
the true pitching of tabernacles, that is of the framing
and abidance of bodies, corruption having been destroyed
and death fallen into death. As far as one can speak
as to the fact of history, the multitude of them who
went up to Jerusalem knew not number, and it was prob-
able that at that time the Pharisees had great influence,
making believe to take the part of the law, and mid so
great a multitude crying out against the transgressor,
or Him Who seemed to them to transgress. For it is
not at all hard to fire up the countless swarm of com-
mon people, when one says that they are wronged and
endeavours to stir them up even against those that have
nothing wronged them. For like water or fire, they
are flung about everywhere by unconsidered and ran-
dom impulses, and advance to everything that can hurt.
These things then the Lord not ignorant of, withdraws
privily from Jerusalem with His disciples, and goes across
the sea of Tiberias. But that He does exceeding well in
shunning the Jews who desire to kill Him, we shall see
by these things also. For the blessed Evangelist himself
says, And after these things Jesus walked in Galilee, for
He would not walk in Jewry because the Jews were seeking
to kill Him.
That He avoids walking -in Jewry, in order not to un-
dergo death before His time, I will grant (will some one
haply say) but whether He also avoids the feast, I do
not yet know. They then that were reputed His brethren
come to Christ in Galilee, saying, Depart hence and go into
V
Christ's lesson through Eis flight Aliens the Church. 315
Judcea, that Thy disciples also may see the works that
Thou doest. But the Lord answered them, Go ye up unto
the feast, I go not up unto this feast, for My time hath not
yet been fulfilled.
It is then very plain and clear, that the Saviour had
withdrawn from Jerusalem, not only sent into voluntary
banishment, so to say, from thence, but also loathing the
abomination of the unbelieving, both by His skill eluding
the fierceness of His persecutors, and by His prudence
thrusting back the dart of envy. He withdraws again,
albeit able to suffer nothing, even though He were pre-
sent, that He may limn us a fair example, not of cow-
ardice, but of piety and charity towards our neighbour.
For we shall know, led as by a pattern to the know-
ledge of what is profitable, that if our enemies persecute us,
even though no harm at all be seen in our remaining, yet
by retiring, and thereby evading the broadside of the on-
slaughts, and retreating from present heat, we may find
the anger of those who wrong us beyond its zenith, and
may cut away the boldness of their arrogance, profiting
those who were not good towards us, and that unjustly,
rather than ourselves profited, which is plainly, not seek-
ing our own but also others' good. The work of love
then, is the not wholly withstanding those who wish us
evil, nor by being satisfied with not being able to suffer
anything even if present, to work in them anger more
bitter, from its not being able to attain the mastery over
that which is hated. Love then, as Paul says, seeketh not
her own, and this was purely in Christ.
But if you fix again the keen eye of the understanding
upon what is written, you will be surprised to find a most
excellent economy in the departures of our Saviour, I mean
from Jerusalem. For He is driven out oftentimes by the
mad folly of the Jews, and lodging with the aliens, seems
both to be kept safe by them, and to enjoy due honour.
Where by He gives judgment of superiority to the Church
of the Gentiles, and through the piety of others, convicts
them of Israel of their hatred of God, and shews the cruel-
Chap.4.
CAP.vi.l.
lb. 8.
ICor.
xiii. 5.
316 The sea severs from Christ them who provoke Him.
\n
Book 3. ty that is in them by means of the gentleness that is in
CAP. VI. 1. J . J °
these, that m every respect they may be proved to have
been well and rightly thrust out of the promise to the
fathers. But the Lord having hastened away from Je-
rusalem, lodges not at one of the cities round about, nor
takes up His abode in the neighbouring villages, but
goes across the sea of Tiberias, by a most evident act all
but threatening thqse who blasphemously take up the
idea that they ought to persecute Him, that He would
so far depart from them and estrange Himself from their
whole nation, as even to make the way of their conver-
sion to Him in some sort impassable : for the sea can by
no means be trodden by foot of man. Some such thing as
this will He be found saying to them in what follows too,
Ye shall seek Me and shall not find Me, and whither I go, ye
cannot come. For most smooth and easy and free from rug-
gedness to those who by faith go to Him is the way of
righteousness; rugged and up-hill, yea rather, wholly im-
passable to them that provoke Him, as is said by one of
the holy Prophets, For right are the ways of the Lord, and
the just shall ivalk in them, but the transgressors shall fail
therein. Therefore the intervening tract of sea signifies the
toilsomeness yea rather the impassableness by the Jews, of
the way to Him, since God declares that He hedges up the
lb. ii. 6. ways of the ungodly soul, saying in the Prophets, Therefore,
behold, I will hedge up her way with thorns, and she shall not
find her path. What then the thorns there signified, this
here too the sea in that it separates the Insulted from those
who chose recklessly to insult Him, and severs the Holy
from the unholy.
But the type seems as though it were pregnant to us
with yet another hidden mystery. For when Israel was
sent forth from the country of the Egyptians, Pharaoh was
following in exceeding exasperation and, maddened at the
unexpected well-doing of the nation, was hastening by law
of battle to dare his envious and grievous designs ; he was
following, thinking he should be able to constrain to re-
turn to bondage those who had late and hardly slipped
Infra
vii. 34,
viii. 21.
Hos. xiv,
y.
Pharaoh of 'old drowned,now Jews make them selves Pharaoh. 317
away from under his serfdom: but God was leading His
people through the midst of the sea; and he hotly pursu-
ing, and by no means enduring to abate his anger, and
foolishly persuaded of his ungoverned wrath to fight against
God, was swallowed up in the midst thereof with his whole
army, and Israel alone was saved. But let now too Moses
come forward in the midst of us, who lamented beforehand
the mad folly of the Jews, and let him in his indignation at
their impiety towards Christ say to them, An evil and adul-
terous generation, do ye thus requite the Lord? Him that
bare thee through the midst of the sea and through mighty
waves thou drivest over the sea, and dost thou not blush at
persecuting Him? Thine then is the suffering, Jew:
thee will the sea at last swallow up. For to the persecu-
tors, not to the persecuted did death belong both then in
their case, and now in regard of Christ and of the unholy
Jews. The divine David too singe th to us, Let not the
waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep sivalloiv me up,
hinting at the all-dread shipwreck of the Synagogue of
the Jews, and entreating not to be swallowed up with
them in their depth of ignorance. But in respect of the
Egyptians and him that ruled over them, the peril was
then of their earthly bodies, but the Jews' conduct be-
ing in respect of what is more precious, more severely
are they punished; for they undergo punishment of the
soul, receiving recompence proportionate to their wicked-
nesses. For with reason was Pharaoh punished, endeav-
ouring to get what was free into bondage: contrariwise
again justly is Israel punished, for not entering into
bond-service under the Lord of all: but what the one
was to him in the might of his greed, this was he too
found to be towards God from his great vain-glory.
We must note, that he calls the Lake of Tiberias a
sea, in accordance with the words of Divine Scripture, /or
the gathering together of the waters called the" Creator Sea*.
Among profane 2 writers too the word is often indifferently
used, insomuch that some do not hesitate sometimes to
call the sea a lake.
Chap. 4.
cap. vi. 1.
Deut.
xxxii, 5,
6.
Ps. Ixix.
15.
Gen. i. 10.
2 irapa
rots e£«
318 Christ's ascent into the mountain. Loyalty of
Book 3.
c. vj. 2-4.
Jer.xii.7,
Infra xii.
32.
1
1 "
Infra
viii. 48.
S. Matth
xiii. 55.
ri
cf. Wis-
' dom xiii.
5.
h ]
; 1 : ■
•1 ' ■
Supra
v. 36 v
Infra x.
37, 38.
-r :
Wisdom
■ 1 r :
xiii. 5.
2 And a great multitude was following Him because they saw
3 His miracles which He did on them that were diseased: and
Jesus went up into the mountain and there He sat with His
4 disciples, and the Passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh.
For when Christ had gone forth from Jerusalem, ac-
cording to that which is said in the Prophets; I have
forsaken Mine House, I have left Mine heritage; when hav-
ing spurned the disobedient and unruly people of the
Jews, He gave Himself to the aliens, then a great multi-
tude follow eth Sim. But He goeth up into a mountain, ac-
cording to that surely which He had afore said, And I, if
I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.
For He was lifted up from the earth, on ascending the
Cross for our sakes; He was lifted up again in another
way having ascended as unto a mountain, unto God-be-
fitting honour and glory. For we do not, like Israel, dis-
honour Him as Man, but we worship Him as God and
Saviour and Lord. For among them He was conceived
of as some lowly one and as nothing at all ; and verily they
would shrink not from calling Him a Samaritan, and with
graver dishonour would call Him the carpenter's Son : but
among them who believe on Him, He is admired as the
Mighty Worker and God, a Doer of miracles. For you
may hear how pious is the purpose of them who followed
Him. For because they saw His miracles upon the infirm,
therefore they thought they ought to follow Him more
zealously, as being led from the things performed propor-
tionably unto the knowledge of the Performer, and from
His God-befitting Authority considering that He who was
clothed therewith is by Nature Son. For by this way the
Saviour commanded us to advance unto faith in Him.
For the works that I do (saith He) the very works bear
witness of Me, and again, If I do not the vjorks of My
Father, believe Me not, but if I do, though ye believe not
Me, believe My works. As then from the greatness of the
beauty of the creatures, their Maker God is seen, so from
miracle, by a like process of thought, the Perfecter of
His followers. The brave and loyal shall ascend too. 319
signs is seen, and the faith of His followers is rightly
marvelled at.
But I deem that some more special and not obvious in-
terpretation is concealed in the things said. For we see
that the Evanglist says that they who followed Christ were
not only glad beholders 3 of miracles, but also of what mir-
acles they were most just admirers. For he adds, Which
He did on them that were diseased, that hence he might
shew that the frame of mind of those that followed Him
was contrary to that of the Jews. For these because He
had healed the sick of the palsy, are impiously angry,
but the former not only admire Him for these things when
present, but also flock together to Him at His departure,
as Wonder-worker and God. Let us then, who have
subscribed 13 unto ourselves Christ as our Lord, flee the
ignorance befitting the Jews, let us cleave to Him by
patience, as the most wise disciples did enduringly, by no
means enduring to depart from Him and be deserters, but
by our very deeds crying aloud, that which was valiantly 4
spoken by Paul, Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ ? Let us then follow Him, both persecuted and in flee-
ing from the stubbornness of those who strive against Him,
that we may both go up into a mountain and there sit with
Him, that is, may spring up into glorious and most ex-
cellent grace, by reigning together with Him, according as
Himself said, Ye which have followed Me in My temptations,
in the regeneration when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne
of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel. For I think that the disciples
being said to abide with the Saviour, and to go up into a
mountain and sit with Him, introduces these ideas.
5 When Jesus therefore lifted up His Eyes and saw that a great
company cometh unto Him, He saith unto Philip, Whence shall we
6 buy bread that these may eat ? and this He said to prove him, for
7 He Himself knew what He would do. Philip answered Him,
A lesson most excellent did Christ again devise for His
b iiriypa<j>6fj.evoi. The word was used inscribe his name as their Patron on the
of the neroiKoi at Athens who were public Register. Liddell and Scott sub
obliged by Law to have a Patron and to voce.
Chap. 4.
c vi. 5,6.
3 (j>i\o6e-
dfJLOVtS
4 veaviKzct
Rom.
viii. 35.
S. Matth.
xix. 28,
cf. S.
Luke
xxii. 28.
320 Hospitality to be striven after. Christ looks on and
Book 3.
c. vi. 5, 6.
5 UKpiXTOlS
li.ll
M
t \ if
Vi I'-
ll l:
Hi
|<-
up
yi
"Karavap-
KrjffftV to
grow stiff
7 Karave-
avteve-
ffdai
Rom.viii,
29, 30.
Num.
vi. 26.
8 iravSat-
alav
Proy.
x. 3.
disciples, and fittest for the most holy men, both per-
suading them in utter 5 straits to overcome cowardice in
respect of hospitality, and to cast far away hesitation
hereto, rather with more zealous motions to attain unto
the virtue thereof. For what is there greater than this
among those who know and will the things whereby it
befitteth to purchase unto themselves the friendship from
above ? For when no small crowd cometh to Him, and
an innumerable multitude is pouring forth like waters
upon the parts, wherein He was stopping, He immediately
ordered them to make preparations for feeding them. And
in truth it was not unlikely that the zeal even of a very
rich man would numb 6 , by the multitude of those he saw
startled into fear of not being able to be hospitable. But
Christ shews that it is nothing at all great, when our
brotherly love comes to a few, but wills that we should
overcome with manful courage 7 alsa things that surpass
our expectation, firmly grounded by confidence in Him to
boldness unto all good things.
In regard then of the narrative, the force of what is
said, aims not away from the mark; but changing again
these things unto their spiritual significance, and cutting
away the gross typical dress, we say more openly, that
those who by good zeal and faith seek Him, God fore-
beholdeth, as from a mountain, that is from His high and
God-befitting foreknowledge, according to that which is
said by Paul, For whom He did foreknow and predestinate
to be conformed to the Image of His Son, these He also
called. Christ then lifts up His Eyes as shewing that they
who love Him are worthy of the Divine Gaze, even as
in blessing it was said to Israel, The Lord lift up His Coun-
tenance upon thee and give thee peace. But not by the mere
looking on them is His grace toward them that honour
Him bounded, but the blessed Evangelist adding some-
thing more, shews that the Lord was not unmindful of the
multitudes, but well prepared for their food and entertain-
ment 8 : that hereby again thou mayest understand that
which is delivered us in Proverbs, The Lord will not suffer
-in;
Mil*
r
provides for His own. Philip why questioned. Whence. 321
the righteous soul to famish. For He sets before them
Himself, as Bread from Heaven, and will .nourish the souls
of them that fear Him : and prepareth all things sufficient
to them for sustenance, as he saith in the Psalms, Thou
preparest their food, for thus is Thy provision. And Christ
Himself somewhere saith, Verily poerily I say unto you, he
that cometh to Me shall never hunger. For He will give,
as we said before, food from heaven, and will richly be-
stow the manifold grace of the Spirit. He prepareth more-
over to give food to them that come to Him, not even
awaiting their asking. For we hioiv < not what we should
pray for as we ought, but He forecometh us in reaching
forth those things which preserve us unto eternal life.
He saith then unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread? We
must needs see, why to Philip, although the rest of the
disciples were standing by and cleaving to Him: Philip
then was a questioner and apt to learn 9 , but not over quick
in ready power of understanding the more Divine. This
you will learn, if you consider with yourself that he, after
having followed the Saviour for a long time and gathered
manifold lessons concerning His Godhead and gotten to
himself apprehension through both deeds and words, as
though he had learnt nothing yet, in the last times of
the economy says to Jesus, Lord, shew us the Father,
and it sufficeth us ; but as saying it in his simplicity 1 he
was fitly re-instructed, So long time am I with you, and
hast thou not known Me, Philip? saith Christ. Therefore
as to one duller of understanding, and advancing more
slowly than he ought to the apprehension of things more
Divine, He puts forth the question, exercising the disciple
in faith. For this is one meaning of, To prove him 2 , in
this passage, although as the blessed Evangelist affirmed,
He Himself knew what He would do.
But His saying Whence shall we buy proves the uncare
for money 8 of them that were with Him, and their volun-
tary poverty for God's sake, in that they had not even
wherewithal to buy necessary food. Together with this
He works something, and orders it skillfully. For He
VOL. I. y
Chap. 4.
c vi. 6, 6.
Ps. Ixy. 9.
Infra
ver. 35.
Rom.
viii.26.
9 (piAofia-
Infra
xiv. 8.
1 d/co/fo-
■fjdws
lb. 9.
2 iretpd-
C(*>v, temp-
ting
3 rb a<pi-
\oxp-fuia.
rov
• I
f '-'■
i
■;
Book 3
c.vi.7-9.
J
4 els
&KpOV
iupiXap-
•yvpetv
322
Whence. S. Philip's slow advance.
I J
i'i.
I*
i *
.{'
i>
t;|.
!!■
. says Whence, not emptily, as to those who had taken no
trouble to provide anything at all, but as to those who
were accustomed to entire uncare for money 4 . Exclud-
ing then, and cutting short most skilfully expectation
arising from money, He well nigh persuades them to go
on to entreat the Lord, that He would, if He willeth
them when they have nothing to feed those that come
to Him, by His unspeakable Power and God-befitting
Might create food. For this was what yet remained,
and He was calling them at length to see that their only
remaining hopes were thence, according to the Greek
poets,
— the iron wound of necessity.
Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them,
that every one of them may take a little.
Feebly again does Philip advance, not to the power of
Jesus to do all things, and that easily, but on hearing Whence
shall we buy said to prove him, forthwith he catches at it,
and looks at the means by money alone, not conceiving that
the nature of the thing may be accomplished otherwise
than by the common law, and that practised by all, to
wit, prodigality of expenditure. Therefore as far as regards
5 a<pi\o- the disciples' uncare for money 5 and their possessing no-
XptiM-aTov fljjug^ an( j Philip's own apprehension, which did not as
yet with perfect clearness view the exceeding dignity of
our Saviour, liberality towards the multitudes is turned
into an impossibility. But it was not so, the will of the
Saviour conducts it to its completion. The impossible with
men is possible with God, and the Divine Power proves on
all sides superior to the natural order of things with us,
strong to accomplish all things wondrously, even what
overleap our understanding.
8 One of His disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, saith
9 unto Him, There is a lad here which hath five barley loaves
and two small fishes, but what are they among so many ?
10 Jesus saith,
He both thinks and reasons akin to Philip, and is con-
S. Luke
xviii. 27.
8. Andrew's tardy apprehension exalts Christ's Might. 323
victed of having a kindred apprehension of the Saviour
Christ. For neither considering the power, nor yet led by
the greatness of His preceding works unto Jesus' being
able for all things, and that most easily; he points out
what the lad has, but is evidently weak in faith : for what
are these (he says) among so many ? Albeit (for we must
say it) in no unready way 6 but resolutely rather ought
he to go forth to the memory of those things which had
been already miraculously wrought, and to consider that
it was a work by no means strange or foreign from Him
Who had transformed into wine the nature of water, had
healed the palsied and driven away so great an infirmity by
one word, that He, I say, should create food of that which
had no being, and multiply Divinely the exceeding little that
was found ready to hand. For the Authority that wrought
in the one, how should it not be able to work in the other?
Wherefore the pair of disciples answered more feebly than
was meet. But herein we must consider this again. For
those things which appear^to have been little falls in the
Saints, are oftentimes not without their share of profit, but
have something wrapt up with them, helpful to the nature
of that in regard to which is the charge of their apparent
infirmity. For the above mentioned holy disciples, having
considered, and openly said, one, that Two hundred penny-
worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one may
take a little, the other, of the five loaves and two little fishes,
that what are these among so many ? raise the marvel to its
height, and make the Might of the Saviour most marked,
indicating by their own words the multitude that but now
was to be filled, and the strength of their unbelief is con-
verted into good testimony unto Christ. For in that they
confessed that so large money would not suffice the multi-
tude for even a slight enjoyment, by this very thing do they
crown the Ineffable Might of the Host, when He, while
there was nothing (for, as Andrew says, what were the lad's
supplies among so many ?) very richly outdid His work of
love towards the multitude.
The like littleness of faith we shall find in the wilderness
y 2
Chap. 4.
c.vi.8,9.
vireffra-
Kjxivus
Supra
ver. 7.
m
324 Moses understood not. Duty of faith since
Book 3.
c. vi. 8,9
il
-i j,
"' ~'i
-: i\
ifli
u J"
a 1 1 J
US;
Num. xi
4,5.
lb. 23.
in the all-wise Moses too. For they of Israel were weeping
and, excited to a foul lusting after the tables of Egypt,
were picturing to themselves unclean dishes of flesh, and
turning aside after most strange pleasure, of onions and
garlic, and the like unseemly things, and disregarding the
Divine good things, were attacking Moses their mediator
and leader. But God was not ignorant, for what the multi-
tude were eagerly groaning, and promised to give them
flesh. But since the promise of liberality was made in the
wilderness, and the thing appeared hard of accomplishment,
as regards man's understanding, Moses came to Him cry-
lb. 21, 22. ing out, The people among whom I am, are six hundred
thousand footmen, and Thou saidst, I will give them flesh,
and they shall eat a whole month : shall the flocks and the
herds he slain for them, and shall it suffice them ? And what
said God to these things ? Will the Lord's Hand suffice not?
For unto what can God be powerless ?
Therefore one may well say to the words of Philip and
Andrew also, Will the Lord's Hand suffice not ? And let us
too taking the nature of the thing by way of example, hold
that littleness of faith is the worst of sicknesses and sur-
passes all evil, and if God work or promise to do, be it
full surely received in simple faith, and let not the Deity
be accused, from our inability to conceive how what is
above us shall happen, by reason of our own powerless -
ness unto ought. For it becomes the good and sober-
minded and him that hath his reason sound, to consider this
too in his mind, how the bodily eye too sees not surely as
far as one would like, but as far as it can, and as the limit
of our nature permits. For the things that are situated
at too great a height, it cannot distinguish, even if it im-
agine them, with difficulty snatching even the slightest
view of them. So do thou conceive of the mind of man
also, so far as the bounds given it by its Maker it attaineth
and stretcheth forth, even if it be wholly purified ; for it
will see none of those things that are beyond, but will give
way, even against its will, to what is above nature, wholly
unable to grasp them. The things then that are above
nature so weak. God spared not Moses doubting. 325
us are received by faith, and not by investigation, and as Chap. 4.
he that so believes is admired, so he that falls into the °' V1 * '
contrary is by no means free from blame. And this will
the Saviour Himself testify, saying, He that believeth on the Supra
Son is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned
already.
Now having once taken up the discourse upon the duty
of not mistrusting God, come, let us again shewing forth
somewhat out of the sacred writings, put it forward, and
blazon forth the punishment of the unbelief for the profit
of our readers. Therefore (for I will go again to the
hierophant Moses) he was once bidden, in the wilderness,
when the people were oppressed with intolerable thrist,
to take Aaron, and smite the rock with his rod, that it
might gush forth fountains of water. But he, not wholly
believing the words of Him Who bade Him, but faint-
hearted by reason of human nature, saith, Hear notv, ye Num. xx.
rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock ? And Moses ' '
lifted wp his hand and with his rod he smote the rock once
and again, and much water came out: and the Lord spake lb. 12.
unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed Me not, to sanctify
Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall
not bring this congregation into the land which Ihave given
them. Is it not hence clear to every one, how bitter the
wages of unbelief? And if Moses so great as he was, was
reproved, whom shall God spare, upon whom will not He
who thus respecteth not persons, inflict His wrath for their
unbelief, since He would not spare 7 even that Moses, to 7 s V(ra .
whom He had said, I know thee above all, and thou didst Exod"
find grace in My Sight.
Make the men sit down : and there was much grass in the
place : the men therefore sat down, in number about Jive
thousand.
The Saviour practised His accustomed gentleness, and
takes away the sharpness of His reproaches. For He doth
not rebuke bitterly His disciples, albeit they were deeply
slumbering in respect of their faintheartedness and little-
ness of faith in Him : but rather He leads them by His
XXX1H.
12.
326 Christ wrought through Elias. Men alone counted, ivhy;
Book 3.
c. vi. 10.
I
I
1 Kings
xvii. 14.
Num.
2,3.
8 vtaut-
tchv
Deeds to the apprehension of the things which as yet they
believe not. For the words Make the men sit down have
no slight force, and wellnigh shew Jesus speaking after
this sort, slow to understand My Power, and to per-
ceive Who it is that speaketh, Make the men sit down,
that ye may see them filled with the nothing that lies be-
fore you and marvel. Make the men sit down. For it is
what is lacking to them. For not two hundred pence
would have sufficed to get means of life for the multitudes,
but the lack of money such as men use, in respect of its being
able to preserve life, My Power shall attain, which calleth
all things into being, and createth out of things which
are not. Nor did Elias the Prophet render the widow's
cruse of oil unfailing, and make the barrel the source
of unwasting food : but He, Who gave him the power,
shall He not be able to multiply nothing, and to render
any mere chance supply a fount of His ineffable Bounty
and the principle and root of unlooked for grace ?
It is not incredible that such were Christ's thoughts in
what He said. Profitably doth the blessed Evangelist men»
tion, that there was. much grass in the place, shewing that
the country was fit for the men to sit down in. But observe
how, whereas the multitude of them that were fed was
promiscuous, and that women were there with their child-
ren, he numbered the men only, following I suppose the
custom of the Law. For Grod commanded the hierophant
Moses, saying, Take ye the sum of all the congregation of
the children of Israel, after their families, by the house of
their fathers, ivith the number of their names, by their polls,
every male from twenty years old and upwards. The Pro-
phet did as he was commanded, and collected a great
list of names, and is seen to have completely passed over
females and childhood, and enrols the multitude that are
of full age. For honourable in the book of God too is all
that is manly and vigorous 8 , and not what is infantile
in purpose after good things. Therefore did he honour
the custom of the Law also herein, and form again some
spiritual conception. For shall we not with reason say, if
their reward. Grass, res£. Christ gives thanks oiw Pattern. 327
we look to the whole mind of the passage, that the violent
and vainglorious people of the Jews Christ rightly turns
away from and leaves : but receives very graciously them
that come to Him, and fattens them with heavenly Food,
reaching them the Spiritual Bread, which strengthened
man's heart ? For He feedeth them not sadly 9 , but joy-
ously and freely and with much enjoyment in piety. For
this the reclining of the multitudes on the grass signifieth,
so that now too it is fit that each one to whom such grace
has been vouchsafed should say that in the Psalms, The
Lord is my Shepherd, and nought shall fail me : in a grassy
spot there He settled me. For in much enjoyment and de-
light through the gifts of the Spirit is the mind of the
Saints fed, as it is said in the Song of Songs, Eat and
drink and be inebriated, ye neighbours. But while there were
many, and they sitting down promiscuously, as we said
before, he mentioned the men alone, passing over in silence
the women and children profitably for the idea [conveyed
thereby] . For he teaches us, as in a riddle, that to those
who quit them as men, that is, in good, will the food be
supplied by the Saviour more fittingly and specially, and
not to those who are effeminate unto no good habit of
life, nor yet to those who are infantile in undei-standing,
so as to be thereby able to understand none of the things
that are necessary to be known.
11 Jesus therefore took the loaves, and when He had given
thanks, He distributed c to them that were set down ; likewise
of the fishes also as much as they would.
He gives thanks, as an ensample to us and a pattern
of the piety which ought to be in ns : and attributes
again as Man the Power of the miracle to the Divine
Nature. For this was His custom, both helping by an
example of piety, as we have said, those to whom He was
manifested as a Teacher of what is most excellent, and by
an economy concealing yet His God-befitting Dignity,
till the -time of His Passion should be at hand: for it was
c The words to the disciples and the Codices and the earliest Syriac transla-
disciples S. Cyril appears to omit with tion.
the Alexandrine Vatican and Sinaitic
Chap. 4.
c. vi. 11.
Ps. civ.
15.
9 iwiir6-
va>s
Ps. xxiii.
1, 2.
Song of
Sol. v.
1.
328 He wills to be hid, speaks as God and Man. Blessed.
li' 1
■m
Book 3.
c. vi. 11.
Infraxiv.
SO, cf. 1
Cor. ii. 8.
Infra xi.
41.
1 iropct-
\(\VfJ.4fOV
lb. 42.
lb.
S. Matth.
xiv. 19.
1 Tim.
iv. 4, 5.
His earnest care that it should be hid from the prince of
this world. For this reason, doth He elsewhere too
use words befitting men, as a Man, and heals again the
understanding of His hearers, sometimes making most
wise alluring as in the words, Father, I thank Thee that
Thou heardest Me. Seest thou in how human guise His
speech, and well calculated to trouble the understanding
of the more simple ? But when He says this, as Man, then
again He straightway unfolds the mode of the economy,
and the object of His will to lie hid, by most excellent
arrangement fortifying the mind of the more simple which
had received a shock 1 . For I knew (He saith) that Thou
hearest Me always. Why then dost Thou speak these
things ? Because of the multitude which stood by I said it,
that they may believe (saith He) that Thou sentest Me.
Is it not then hereby plain, that with a view manifoldly
to assist us, and to fulfill, as befitted Him, the secret
economy with Flesh, He sometimes speaks more lowlily,
than He really is ? As therefore in that passage, I thank
Thee, is taken economically, so here too. [ d iZe blessed is
understood of the bread.]
But we must observe that instead of gave thanks, Mat-
thew has said, blessed, but the edition of the saints will
in no wise differ. For Paul will shew that they are both
one, saying that every meat e of God is good, and nothing to
be refused : for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
But that which is sanctified through the prayer in suppli-
cation, which we are wont ever to make over the table,
is surely blessed. -
But since it is fit that nothing profitable be left unin-
vestigated by us ; come let us say a little of the five loaves
which the lad had and of the two little fishes : for both the
m
d I have bracketed the words, He
blessed is understood of the bread, which
as the text at present stands i'oi m part
of the sentence. But the words seem
as if they were a marginal explanation
of the next. clause, such as occur at
times in Mss.
The explanation given by S. Cyril in
this next clause would seem to be, that
what is sanctified 9 (us S. Paul says) by
prayer is blessed, and that in prayer
thanksgiving is included, so that when
our Lord gave thanks, the thanksgiving
was itself a blessing of the bread.
e jSpcSjua. So reads S. Cyril (though
no known Ms. of S. Paul has it) in the
place of the usual Krlff/xa, creature.
I
Loaves why barley, fish why two.
329
species itself, and besides the numbers are replete with Chap. 4.
mystery. For why (will some more studious person say) ' '
were not the loaves rather five, and the fishes three ? why
not five, and the fishes four ? what occasion was there at
all for recounting the number found, and why did not he
rather say more simply and absolutely that the innumer-
able multitude of them that followed Him were fed off ex-
ceeding few chance things ? But the fact that the blessed
Evangelist recounted very diligently these things too, gives
us something surely to think of, which we must needs
search into.
He says then that the loaves are five, and they of barley,
and the fishes two, and with these Christ feedeth them
that love Him. And I think (and let the lover of wisdom
look out for something better) that by the five barley loaves
are signified the five-fold book of the all-wise Moses, that is,
the whole Law, bringing in as it were coarser food, that by
the letter and history. For this the bay-ley hints at. But
by the little fishes is signified the food got through the
fishermen, that is, the more delicate books of the dis-
ciples of the Saviour; and these two (he says), the apos-
tolic and Evangelic preaching, shine forth among us. And
both these are draughts and spiritual writings of the fish-
ermen. The Saviour therefore mingling the new with the
old, by the Law and the teachings of the New Testament
nourishes the souls of them that believe on Him, unto
life, plainly eternal life. That the disciples were of fisher-
men, is (I suppose) plain and clear : and though all were
not so, yet since there are some such among them, our
argument will not recede from truth in what has been
said.
12 When they were filled, He saith unto His disciples, Gather up
13 the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. Therefore
they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with
the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over
and above unto them that had eaten.
To some one Christ may seem out of sparing of the frag-
330 Why Christ gave such abundance of fragments.
Book 3.
vi. 12, 13.
Isa. lviii.
7.
S. Luke
vi. 38.
Deut. xv,
11.
ments to have bidden His disciples to gather them to-
gether. Yet (I think) every one will fitly imagine, that
Christ would not endure to descend to such littleness : and
why say I Christ ? not even one of us would do so : for
what would be supposed to be the remnant of five barley
loaves ? But the verse has a great economy, and makes
the miracle evident to the hearers. For so great is the
efficacy of God-befitting Authority in this matter, that not
only was so great a multitude sated from five barley loaves
and two little fishes, but twelve baskets full of fragments
were gathered besides. Moreover the miracle repelled
another (as is like) suspicion, and by the finding of the
fragments confirmed the belief of there having been really
and truly an abundance of food, and not rather the ap-
pearance of a vision deceiving both the eye of the feas-
ters and of those who minister to them. But greater
yet and more noteworthy, and of exceeding profit to us,
is this : consider how by this miracle He makes us most
zealous in our desire to exercise hospitality most gladly,
wellnigh calling aloud to us by the things that were done,
that the things of God shall not fail him that is ready
to communicate, and rejoiceth in habit of neighbourly love,
and readily fulfilleth what is written, Break thy bread to
the hungry. For we find that the disciples at the begin-
ning were hampered by reluctance about this, but seeing
they were thus minded, the Saviour gave them, a rich
gathering from the fragments: and teacheth us too there-
by, that we, on expending a little for the glory of God,
shall receive richer grace according to the saying of Christ,
Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and run-
ning over, shall they give into your bosom. "We must not
be slothful therefore unto the communion of love to the
brethren, but rather advance unto good resoluteness, and
put as far as possible from us the cowardice and fear that
dispose us to inhospitality and, confirmed in hope through
faith in the power of God to multiply little things too,
let us open our bowels to the needy, according to the
appointment of the Law, for He says, Thou shalt open
Now time to shew mercy. Christ ivorhs through others. 331
thy bowels* wide unto thy needy brother within thee. For
when wilt thou be found merciful, if thou remainest hard
in this life ? when wilt thou fulfil the commandment, if
thou sufferest the time of being able to do it to slip by
in idleness ? Remember the Psalmist saying, For in death
there is none that remembereth Thee : in the grave who shall
confess to Thee ? For what fruit is there yet of the dead,
or how shall one of them that have gone down into the
pit remember God by fulfilling His Commandments ? For
God closed upon him, as it is written. Therefore did the
most wise Paul too instruct us, writing to certain, While we
have opportunity let us do good.
And these things shall be said for profit from the nar-
rative. But since we taking what has been said in a spi-
ritual sense (for so we ought, and not otherwise) said
that by the five barley loaves the book of Moses was
hinted at, and by the two little fishes, the wise writings of
the holy Apostles : in the gathering together of the frag-
ments too, I suppose we ought to perceive some mystical
and spiritual conception, agreeing with the order of the
account. The Saviour then commanded the multitudes to
sit down, and having blessed, He distributed the bread
and the fishes, i. e., through the ministry of the disciples :
but when they that had eaten were miraculously filled,
He commands them to gather together the fragments,
and twelve baskets are filled, one (it seems) for each of
the disciples : for so many were they too. What then
shall we understand from thence, save surely this, and
truly, that Christ is the President 3 of them that be-
lieve on Him, and nourishes them that come to Him with
Divine and heavenly food? doctrines plainly of the Law
and Prophets, Evangelic and Apostolic. But He does not
altogether Himself appear as the Worker of these things,
Chap. 4.
vi. 12, 13.
Ps. vi. 5.
J ob iii.
23.
Gal.vi.
10.
yvpidp-
President
of solemn
meeting
f S. Cyril seems to read t& ffir\6.yx va ril's writings, viz., De Adoratione lib.
<rov thy bowels for t^v x e 'P a ffov thine 8. p. 271 where S. Cyril cites this among
hand, which the LXX, following the passages of the Pentateuch bidding bro-
il ebrew, has. Dr. Holmes in his most therly love : and in an exhortation to
diligently laborious edition of the LXX, almsgiving in his 18th [19th in ed.] Pas-
which he did not live to complete, has chal homily p. 253.
cited two other instances from S. Cy-
332 Basket of fragments reward of teachers. Rejection of Jews.
Book 3.
c. vi. 14.
S. Matth
x.20.
lis
3 irepj<£a-
yfia
but the disciples minister to us the grace from above (for
it is not they that speak, as it is written, but the Spirit
of the Father which speaJceth in them) yet not without
reward to the holy Apostles shall be their labour therein.
For they having dispensed to us the spiritual food, and
ministered the good things of our Saviour, will receive rich-
est recompense and obtain the fullest grace of bounty
from God. For this and nothing else, I think, is the
meaning of the gathering together of a basketful by each
at the commandment of Christ, after their toils and the
service expended upon the feasters. But there is no
doubt, that after them the things typically signified will
pass also to the rulers of the holy Churches.
14 The men therefore, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus
did', said, This is of a truth the Prophet that should come
into the world.
They marvel at the sign who know how to approve
things God-befitting, and regulate themselves by human
reason rather than are diseased with unreason befitting the
beasts, as were the blasphemous Jews, who, when they
ought to have profited by the publicity 3 of the things
wrought, lost even the power of right judgment. For they
deemed that Jesus ought now to be stoned also, because
He so often appeared as a Worker of miracles. Superior
then, and that in no small degree, to the folly of those men,
are they who marvel, soberly persuaded by this one great
miracle, that He it surely was Whose coming into the world
as a Prophet was foretold. But observe, how great a differ-
ence hence appears, I mean, between the race of Israel, and
those situate out of Judaea; for the one, although they
were spectators of many things, and those not unworthy
of admiration, are not only hard of heart and inhuman, but
also desire unjustly to slay Him Who was zealous to save
them, driving Him with their wild folly from their city
and country : while they who dwelt away from Jerusalem,
and hence signify the race of aliens, from one miracle alone
glorify Him, and nobly determine that their conceptions
of Him should be received with faith unhesitatingly. From
Christ eschewedglory ,they too who thirst j or the 'eternal glory, 333
all these things, was Israel shewn to be self-condemned
and self-invited to her final just rejection, and that it was
due to the Gentiles to obtain at length their share of mercy
from above and love through Christ.
15 When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and
take Him by force to make Him a King, He departed again
into the mountain Himself Alone.
Most praiseworthy judgment would one give, and full
rightly, to those who had been easily brought by the great
miracle to believe, that it was indeed befitting that their
very choicest should be Christ's, and their chiefest offered
to Him as an honour. For what else but this does their
desire to choose Him for their King signify to us ? But
among other things one may admire this too ; for Christ is
made an example to us of contempt of glory 4 , in. that He
flees from those who desire to give Him due honour, and
refuses a kingdom that highest earthly prize, although to
Him it was in truth no object of envy, in that He with
the Father reigneth over all things, yet giveth He to them
too who look for the hope to come, to understand that little
to them is worldly greatness, and that it is not good to
accept honours in this life, that is, in the world, though
they offer themselves, that they may mount up to honour
from God. For unseemly is .it in truth that they should
wish to shine in these things, who are pressing on to the
Divine grace, and thirsting for everlasting glory.
We must then eschew the love of glory, sister and
neighbour of arrogance, and not far distant from its bor-
ders. And illustrious honour in this present life let us
eschew us hurtful, let us rather seek for a holy lowliness,
giving way to one another as the blessed Paul too ad-
monisheth, saying, Be each among you so minded accor-
ding to what was also in Christ Jesus; Who, being in the
form of God, thought it not robbery to be Equal with God,
but emptied Himself talcing servant's form, made in the like-
ness of men, and being found in fashion as a Man, He hum-
bled Himself, made obedient unto death, even the death
of the Cross : wherefore God also highly exalted Him and gave
Chap. 4.
c. vi. 15.
4 ad>i\o-
8o|ios
Phil. ii.
5—9.
cf. supia
p. 138
334 After lowliness exaltation. Chbist's departure over
. J.
•li;
Book 3.
c. vi. 15.
avarpe-
Him the g Name which is above every Name. Seest thou how
His voluntary abasement hath a glorious consummation, and
His lowly-mindedness shews itself a root of many good
things to us ? For the Only-Begotten being in the Form
of God the Father hath humbled Himself, being made Man
for our sakes, but even though He appeared in this life with
Flesh, yet He remained not lowly : for He hastes back 5
to His ancient Dignity and to His God-befitting glory,
even though He became Man : this same way may one
suppose will it be as to us too. For when we bring our-
selves down from the empty heights of the present life
and seek low things, then shall we surely receive in re-
turn the glory from above, and mount up unto being
gods by grace, receiving after likeness so to say to Him
Who is truly and by Nature Son, the being called children
of God. And that I may say something akin to the subject
before us, let us refuse, if it offer itself, excellency upon
earth, the mother of all honour, if we mind heavenly
things, and live for things above rather than those on the
earth.
But our discourse is not devoid of spiritual thought,
therefore we will repeat, summing up as it were the
whole force of what has been done, and again going
through from the beginning the account before us. For
so will it become clear to us what is about to be said,
specially as the blessed Evangelist hath added, as though
6 airapal- hinting at something necessary and not to be rejected 6 ,
rijToy tha^ jj e withdrew into the mountain Himself Alone. There-
fore rejecting the cruelty of the Jews, Christ began to de-
part from Jerusalem, which plainly is, I have forsaken Mine
House, I have left Mine heritage. When He had crossed
the sea of Tiberias, and was very far removed from their
folly, He goes up %nto a mountain together with His dis-
ciples. This we said signified the impassable so to say
and impracticable nature of the way to Him unto the Jews,
Jer. xii,
7.
supra
ver. 3.
Supra
p. 316.
e the name which is. This passage is found in the Alexandrine, Vatican and
often found in S. Cyril's writings with Sinaitic codices,
the article as here: the article is likewise
sea, forsaking Jews. Recapitulation of whole.
335
and Christ's withdrawal from them in anger at His Pas- Chap. 4.
sion, for a season, that is, the fit time, and that Christ will
be manifest, together with His disciples, when He departs
from Judaea, and goes unto the Gentiles, transferring
His grace to them. From the mountain did He look on
them that followed Him, and moreover take thought for
their food. And this again we said signified as it were
typically, the supervision from above which is due to the
Saints according to, The eyes of the Lord are upon the righ- Ps.
teous, and that Christ is not without thought for them XXX1V ' ° -
that fear Him. Next much people were miraculously fed
with the five loaves and two little fishes ; of which we de-
fined that they ought to be conceived to be the writings
of the Saints old and new set by the Apostles before them
that love Christ. Moreover, that the choir of the disciples
will receive from God the rich fruit of their ministry to
usward, and after them, the overseers of the holy churches
of God: for the type was in the beginning to all in them.
Next the spectators marvel at the miracles, and devise to
take Jesus by force for a king. This He understanding, de-
parts alone into the mountain, as it is written ; for when
Christ was marvelled at by the Gentiles, as Wonder-worker
and God, when all enrolled 11 Him their King and Lord,
then was He received up Alone into Heaven, no one at
all following Him thither. For He, the Firstfruits of the
dead, hath gone up Alone into the great and truer moun-
tain, according as is said by the Psalmist, Who shall ascend Ps - *xiv.
into the hill of the Lord ? or who shall stand in His holy
place ? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart. For
such an one shall follow Christ, and shall go up into the
spiritual mountain also, at the time of the Kingdom of
Heaven. But He hath withdrawn into the mountain, that
is, hath gone up into Heaven, not refusing to reign over
them that believed on Him, but delaying the time of His
more manifest kingdom, until His return to us from above,
when He shall descend in the glory of the Father, no
longer by miracles, as before, known to be truly and by
h eireypctycwTo see above on verse 2, 3, p. 319. note b.
-M
336 Why Alone. He teaches disciples, the world's teachers.
Book 3.
vi.16, 17
3*1
Ps.
lxxxiv. 7.
Phil. ii.
15.
Nature Lord, but by God-befitting glory confessed that
He is undoubtedly King.
Therefore (for I will say it again briefly, compressing
the multitude of words), when by His miracles He was
believed on and acknowledged to be God, having gone
away from the Jewish people, then do all press forward to
receive Him for their King, but He ascends into Heaven
Alone, laying up for its fitting time the more open mani-
festation of His Kingdom.
16 And when even was come, His disciples went down unto the
17 sea, and entered into a ship and went over the sea unto
Capernaum.
The first sign having been miraculously accomplished,
His flight and withdrawal are economically found to be
the root again and occasion of another, and the Wonder-
worker proceeds, as it is written, from might to might \
For since He was being sought as King by them who were
astonished at that great miracle, and was Himself refusing
worldly honours according to the preceding account; it was
altogether necessary that He should depart from the place,
yea, rather from their whole country. In order then that
He might seem to have sailed away, and might relax
somewhat the intensity of the seekers, He orders the dis-
ciples to depart before Him, but Himself stays, advanc-
ing opportunely unto the next miracle. For it was His
most earnest endeavour, by every occasion and act, to con-
firm the mind of the Apostles in their faith to Himward.
For since they were to be teachers of the earth, and to
sl^ne forth as lights in the world, as Paul saith, He neces-
sarily led them to all things that would profit them. For
this was to shew kindness not on them alone, but to those
also who should be led by them unto the unerring appre- -
hension of Him.
But why (will some one perchance say) after that miracle,
is the Power of Jesus to walk on the very sea immediately
introduced ? Such an one shall hear a very credible cause.
1 4k Svvd/jitus us Svvafitv, Mvapis, acle, as in S. Matth. xiii. 58, And He
might, meaning also a mighty deed, mir- did not many mighty works there.
w--
He teaches them through miracle. Alone in storm. 337
For when He desired to feed the multitudes, Philip and Chap, 4.
vi 17 18
Andrew supposed that He would be powerless thereto, ' '
the one saying that no small sum of money would barely
suffice them for just a little enjoyment, the other telling
that five loaves and two small fishes were found with one of
the lads, nay that what was found was nothing to so great
a multitude ; and from all (so to speak) their words, they
thought that He could do nothing out of the due course
"of our affairs : — needs, in order that He might free Him-
self from so petty a conception, and might bring the still
feeble mind of the Apostles to learn, that He doth all
things wondrously which He willeth, unrestrained by the
nature of things, the necessary order of things not ham-
pering Him in the least, does He place under His Feet the
humid nature of the waters, albeit unpractised 7 to lie 7yue\e-r^-
under the bodies of men, for all things were possible, as eX°ou
to God. Evening then being now come, and the time abat- / ^ €T J 1 ^
ing the vigilance of those who were seeking for Him, the )> een con -
choir of the holy disciples goes down to the sea, and began and seems
to sail away immediately, obeying in all things their God ary< s "
and Teacher, and that without delay.
And it was now dark, and Jesus was not come to them,
18 and the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blew.
Many things at once are being profitably contrived 8 , 8 ohcovo-
and the circumstances drive the disciples to a more zealous
search after the Saviour. For the deep darkness of the
night troubles them, hovering like smoke upon the ra-
ving waves, and takes from them all knowledge of whither
at length to steer. Moreover the fierceness of winds
troubles them not a little, riding on the waves with a rush-
ing noise, and raising the billows to unwonted height.
Yea, and though these things had taken place, Jesus (it
says) was not yet come to them : for herein was their special
danger, and the absence of Christ from the voyagers was
working increase of their fear.
They therefore must needs be tempest-tost, who are not
with Jesus, but are cut off, or seem to be absent from
vol. i. z
V
t
I
H
I
i;
if
ll'j
EJ
338 Without Jesus no safety. Brave endurance. In
Book 3. Him through their departure from His holy laws, and
vi. 19, 20. severe( j b eC ause of sin from Him Who is able to save.
If then it be heavy to be in spiritual darkness, if griev-
*Karranrvl us to be swallowed up 9 in the bitter sea of pleasures, let
7<F(r "' us receive Jesus : for this will deliver us from dangers,
and from death in sin. The figure of what has been said
will be seen in what happened, He will therefore surely
come to His disciples.
19 So when they had rowed about five and twenty or thirty
furlongs, they see Jesus walking on the sea and drawing nigh
20 unto the ship ; and they were afraid. But He saith unto them,
It is I, be not afraid.
When they are separated by great interval from the land,
and it was like that they in their trouble would no way be
saved (for they were now in the midst of the sea) then
Christ thrice longed for appears to them. For thus could
He give most welcome salvation to those in danger, when
fear had already cut off all hope of life. But He appears
to them miraculously (for so was it ordered to their greater
profit) and they are astonished beholding Jesus going
through the midst of the sea and upon the very waters,
and make the miracle an addition to their fear. But Christ
immediately relieves them from their misfortunes, saying, I
am, be not afraid. For need, need must all disquiet be
away, and they be openly superior to all danger, to whom
Christ is now present. We shall see then by this again,
that we ought to have a spirit courageous and manly in
temptations, and endurance intense from hope in Christ,
confirmed unto good confidence in our being surely saved,
even though many be the fears of temptation that pour
around us.
For observe that Christ does not appear to those in the
boat immediately on their setting sail, nor at the com-
mencement of their dangers, but when they are many
furlongs off from the land. For not when the condition
which harasses us first begins, does the grace of Him who
saves visit us, but when the fear is at its height, and the
danger now shews itself mighty, and we are found, so to
deep peril He comes and red and jut/. Apostles' successors. 339
say, in the midst of the waves of afflictions : then unlooked Chap. 4.
for does Christ appear, and puts away our fear, and will °' vi ' 21 *
free us from all danger, by His Ineffable Power changing
the dread things into joy, as it were a calm.
21 They therefore would receive Him into the ship, and imme-
diately the ship was at the land whither they were going.
The Lord not only releases the voyagers from dangers,
wondrously shining on them, but also frees them both from
toil and sweat, by His God-befitting Power thrusting for-
ward the ship on to the opposite shore. For they were
expecting that by rowing on still, they should with diffi-
culty be able to reach the end, but He releases them from
these their toils, revealing Himself to them in a very little
time the Worker of many miracles to their full assurance.
When then Christ appears and beams upon us, we shall
without any labour succeed even against our hope, and we
who are in danger through not having Him, shall have no
more need of toil to be able to accomplish what is profit-
able for us, when He is present. Christ then is our de-
liverance from all danger, and the accomplishment of
achievements beyond hope to them that receive Him.
But since we have discoursed on every portion of the
subject singly, come and let us, joining the meaning hereof
with the connexion of the preceding portions, work out the
spiritual interpretation. We said then that Jesus ascended Supra
into Heaven as into a mountain, that is to say, being re- He. 335 '
ceived up, after His resurrection from the dead. But when
this has taken place, then His disciples alone and by them-
selves, a type of Ecclesiastical teachers in succession through-
out all time, swim through the billows of this present life
as a kind of sea, meeting with varied and great tempta-
tions, and enduring no contemptible dangers of teaching
at the hands of those who oppose the faith and war against
the Gospel preaching : but they shall be freed both from
their fear and every danger, and shall rest from their toils
and misery, when Christ shall appear to them hereafter
z 2
%)t
j ;; 340 At Second Coming Cliurch gains her haven.
< ! Book 3. too in God-befitting Power, and having the whole world
*' [ ' ' ' under His Feet. For this I deem His walking on the
f \\ sea signifies, since the sea is often taken as a type of the
• {) Ps. civ. world by Divine Scripture, as it is said in the Psalms, This
^1; ' great and wide sea, there are things creeping innumerable,
:■■ | S.Matth. loth small and qreat beasts. When Christ then cometh in
fe ' . xvi. 27. .
:. : | " the glory of His Father, as it is written, then shall the ship
of the holy Apostles, that is, the Church, and they that sail
therein, i. e., they who through faith and love toward God
are above the things of the world, without delay and without
all toil, gain the land, whither they were going. For it was
their aim to attain unto the Kingdom of Heaven, as to
a fair haven. And the Saviour confirms this understanding
of all that has been said, in that he says to His Disciples at
Infra one time, A little while and ye shall no 'more see Me, and
again a little while and ye shall see Me, at another again,
« - , lb. 33. Tribulation shall ye have in the world, but be of good cheer,
Ijjj I have overcome the world. But in the night the Lord com-
eth down from the mountain and visiteth His disciples who
are watching, and they look on Him coming, not without
fear (for they tremble) that something needful for our un-
IH derstanding may in this too be made known unto us. For
If; He shall descend from Heaven, as in the night, the world
j; yet sleeping and slumbering in much sin. Therefore to us
w S. Matth. too doth He say, Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour
\i] XX1V * "" your Lord doth come. The parable too of the Virgins will
Ij'i no less teach us this. For He says that five were wise, five
lb. xxv. foolish : but while the Bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered
' ' and slept: and at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the
Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet Him. Seest thou how
at midnight the Bridegroom is announced to us ? And what
the cry is, and the mode of the meeting, the Divine Paul
tiji i Thess. will make known, saying at one time, For the Lord Him-
i' ' iv. 16. .
self shall descend from heaven with a summons, with voice of
archangel, with the trump of God, at another of the saints
lb. 17. who are raised up, we which are alive and remain shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. But the
$
The good will fear. Nought hid. Seek not glory. 341
disciples being smitten with fear, albeit they saw Him Chap. 4.
• vi 99 9^1
coming, and were found in toil and watching, signifies that ' ' "
the Judge will come terrible to all, and that the righteous
man will surely quake within himself, proven as by fire,
albeit ever foreseeing Him Who was to come, and not
shrinking from toils in virtue, nourished in vigilance 1 alike l Aty^
and good watching. But the Lord doth not enter into the
ship with His disciples, as though He were going to sail
with them, but rather moveth the ship on to the land. For
Christ will not appear co-working any more with those who
honour Him, unto their achievement of virtue, but to give
to them that have already achieved their looked-for end.
22 The morrow, when the people which stood on the other side of
the sea saw that there was none other boat there save that one
whereinto His disciples were entered, and that Jesus went not
with His disciples into the boat, yet that His disciples had gone
23 away, howbeit there came other boats from Tiberias nigh unto
the place where they did eat bread, after that the Lord had
given thanks.
The miracle does not escape notice, I mean Jesus walking
on the very sea, although it took place by night and in the
dark, and was ordered in secret. But the crowd of those who
were wont to follow Him perceives, assured (as is probable)
by much watching, that He had neither sailed with His dis-
ciples, nor had crossed in any other ship. For there was
there the Apostles' ship alone, which they took and went
away before Him. Nought then is hidden of what is good
even though it be performed in secret by any, and here we
see that that is true, Nothing is secret that shall not be made s. Luke
manifest, neither hid that shall not be hnown and come vm ' 17,
abroad. I say then that he who desireth to track the foot-
steps of Christ, and, as far as man can, to be moulded after
His Pattern, ought not to be eager to live in much boast-
ing 2 , nor when he practises virtue to be led away in pur- 2 ^xo-
suit of praise, nor if he enter upon an extraordinary and *4 t " rft ' s
exceeding disciplined 3 life, should he desire to glory 3 \i av
immoderately thereat, but should desire to be seen alone by ^Hl"* 1 '
the Eyes of the Deity, Who revealeth hidden things, and
342 Unreal love of the Lord in those who folloived
Book 3. that which is performed in secret bringeth He into clearest
vi. 24, 25. ,
apprehension.
24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there neither
His disciples, they also took shipping and came to Capernaum
seeking for Jesus.
These men follow Him, marvelling perchance at His
miracles, yet not receiving any profit from them unto the
duty of faith, but as though they were making some re-
turn to the Wonder-worker by merely bestowing on Him
4 tyvxpby a not undesired praise. For this is a dreary 4 disease of
a mind and soul which is never accustomed to be led to
the choice of what is profitable for her. The reason why
this was so with them was, that they delighted solely in the
pleasures of the flesh, and jumped eagerly at the meanest
temporal food, rather than hasten after spiritual goods, and
endeavour to gain what would support them to life eternal.
This you will learn clearly by what follows too.
25 And when they had found Him on the other side af the sea,
they said unto Him, Rabbi when earnest Thou hither ?
Their speech takes the form of being that of those who
love Him and feigns sweetness, but is convicted of being
exceeding senseless and childish. For they ought not on
meeting with so great a teacher, to have talked to no pur-
pose, and taken no pains to learn anything. For what
was the need of being eager to ask Him, when He
came there ? what good would they be likely to get from
knowing ? We must then seek wisdom from the wise, and
let a prudent silence be preferred to undisciplined words.
Col. iv. 6. For the disciple of Christ bids that our speech be seasoned
with salt; and another of the wise exhorts us to this, say-
ing, My son, if thou hast a word of understanding, answer, if
not, lay thy hand upon thy mouth. And how evil it is to be
condemned for an undisciplined tongue, we shall know from
another : for he says, If any man among you seem to be reli-
gious, and bridleth not his tongue but deceiveth his own heart,
this man's religion is vain.
Ecclus.
v. 12.
S. James
i. 26.
Him. Their reproof just. He God knowing thoughts. 343
26 Jesus answered them and said, Verily, I say unto you, ye
seek Me, not because ye saw the miracle, but because ye ate
of the loaves and were filled.
We will say something common, yet worn by little use.
Great teachers are often wont to be not slightly angry, when
they are questioned about vain and useless matters. And we
shall find them so, not out of haughtiness, but rather from
annoyance at the folly of the questioners. Of us therefore
and those like us I think that this is not unrightly 6 said :
but the Saviour inflicts a warm rebuke upon those who made
those enquiries, for speaking uninstructedly, and unwisely
enquiring not because it was their duty to seek out the
things whereby they might become honest and good, but
because they followed Him for carnal reward and that a
most mean one. For what is less than daily food, and
that not sumptuous? We must then practise piety to-
wards Christ and Love of Him, not that we may obtain
ought of carnal goods but that we may gain the salvation that
is through Him ; and let us not say good words to Him, as
these say Rabbi, nor devise fair-speaking as a foundation of
gain and boundless ingathering of riches. Truly he that
attempts such things, will not be ignorant that he shall
encounter Christ Who keenly 6 convicteth him, and reveal-
eth his hidden wickedness.
It is meet again to admire also the economy herein.
For when He saw that they were enveloped with the
afore-mentioned disease, as a Physician skilful and master
of his art 7 , He devised a twofold medicine for them,
entwining the helpful reproof with most glorious miracle.
The miracle then we shall find in His knowing their
thoughts; and in the Wonder-worker not telling them
what they sought not out of piety to know, you will behold
the reproof. And the advantage is twofold. For in that
He knows perfectly their devices and has accurate percep-
tion thereof, He shews that they are without understanding,
in that they think to escape the Divine Eye, while they
heap up wickedness in their heart, and practise sweet words
with their tongue. But this is the part of One Who per-
Chap. 4.
c. vi. 26.
s d/cJ/x-
Supra
ver. 25.
viKpaii
i apiffro-
rtx vas
I
Book 3.
c. vi. 26.
8 KoXaKtl-
ais
lTim.
v. 20.
Supra
pp. 340,
341.
Supra
ver. 22.
9 airapa-
rrjpiiTais
1 K0\UK€V-
344 Rulers must rebuke. The Day of Doom.
suades them to leave off this their disease, and to cease from
no slight sin. For outrageous is he and lawless, who hath
this conception of God. In usefully convicting them of
sinning, He restrains in some sort the future course of
evil. For that which has no hindrance, creeps on and
extends itself; but when caught in the fact, it is well-nigh
ashamed, and like a rope contracts into itself. Therefore
the Lord profiteth them by reproving also, and by those
things whereby one thinks that He smites, by these very
things He is seen to be their Benefactor. We must then
hold that even though some flatter or with mild words
wheedle the rulers of the Churches, yet are not sound con-
cerning the faith, it is not meet that they should be carried
away by their fawnings 8 nor by way of payment for their
applause lend in turn to them who need correcting, silence
in regard to their faults : but we ought rather boldly to re-
buke them, and to persuade them to change for the better,
or at least hereby if so be to profit others, according to
that spoken by Paul, Them that sin rebuke before all, that
the rest also may fear.
This then for the subjects separately : but that they are
in connexion, and of necessity follow those before considered,
I think I ought to shew. "We said then that our Saviour's
coming down from the mountain typified His second and
future Coming to us from Heaven, and we added as in
summary, that He appeared to His disciples while they were
watching, and yet toiling, and released them from their fear,
and brought the ship at once to land. And what is hence
pourtrayed to us, as in a type, we have there declared. But
now observe, that after Jesus had come down from the
mountain, certain miss following Him, and come to Him at
last. For they come on the day following, the Evangelist
having not without care 9 added this also. Then on meet-
ing with Him, they endeavour to wheedle x Him with good
words: but Christ chides them, bringing upon them hot
and keen reproof, that we might consider this again, that
after the Coming of our Lord to us from Heaven,. most vain
and profitless unto men is the search after good things, nor
:
ji
ij
L
Severity then, not Mercy. Some Christ will not know. 345
will the desire to follow Him find any fitting season. Yea
even though, certain approach Him, thinking to appease
Him with smoothest words, they shall meet the Judge
no longer mild and gentle, but reproving and aveng-
ing. For thou wilt see the flattery of them that are
reproved, and the reproof itself in the words of the Sa-
viour, when He saith, Many will say to Me in that Bay,
to wit, the Day of Judgment, Lord, Lord, did we not in
Thy Name cast out devils ? But says He, Then will I pro-
fess unto them, Verily I say unto you, I never Jcnew you.
For ye sought Me not purely (saith He) nor loved to excel
in holiness, for thereby would I have known you, but since
ye practised piety in semblance only and in mere imaginaries
for the purpose of gain, justly do I confess that I have not
known you. What then in that passage is Lord, Lord,
here is Rabbi. To whomsoever therefore punishment is
a bitter thing, let him not fall into inertness k nor be
manifoldly infirm in transgression, looking to the goodness
of God, but let him prepare his works for his going forth, as
it is written, and make it fit for himself in the field, i. e.,
while he is in the world. For the Saviour interpreted that
the field is the world. Let him prepare to shew holiness and
righteousness before the Divine Judgment Seat. For he
will behold no unseasonably clement 2 Judge, nor yet
yielding to entreaties for mercy, in Him Whom he ought
without delay to have obeyed when He was calling him
to salvation, while the time of mercy was granting to
him both to beg for forgiveness for his already past trans-
gressions, and to seek for loving-kindness from God Who
saves.
Chap. 4.
c. vi. 27.
S. Matth.
vii. 22.
lb. 23.
Supra
ver. 25.
Prov.
xxiv. 27
LXX.
S. Matth.
xiii. 38.
OpWROV
27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat
which endtireth unto everlasting life.
Something of this sort doth Paul teach us expanding the
discourse universally and more generally, saying, He that Gal. vi.
soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, but he
that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life ever-
k hvavhpiav, the absence of a courageous manly resolve to strive.
346 Sowing to flesh, to Spirit. Care of body only,
Book 3.
c, vi. 27.
*jt
3 ytoip-
ylav
Rom.
xiii. 14.
rpv<pas
5 ityoSjei-
Col. iii.
10.
S. Matth
vi. 31.
lb. 25.
6 f v xh
life or
soul.
lasting. For he says that they sow to the flesh who giving
as it were full rein to the pleasures of the flesh, advance at
full speed to whatever they will, by no means distinguish-
ing what is profitable for them from what is hurtful and
injurious, nor in any way accustomed to approve what
seems good unto the Law-giver, but heedlessly hurried off
to that alone which is pleasant and agreeable, and prefer-
ring nothing to things seen. Again he affirms that they
sow to the Spirit, who expend the whole aim of their mind
on those things wherein the Holy Ghost willeth us to excel,
employing a mind so intense toward the cultivation 3 of
good things, that, did not voice of nature not to be dis-
regarded constrain them to minister needful food to the
flesh, they would not endure to descend even to this.
I think then that we ought to take no forethought whatever
for the flesh for the lusts thereof, but rather to apply ourselves
to what is most needful, and to be zealous in practising those
things, which bring us to the everlasting and Divine Life.
For admiration for the delights 4 of the body, and the
esteeming nothing better than the superfluities of the belly,
is truly brutish and akin to the extremest folly. But to
apply ourselves to good things, and earnestly to strive to
excel in virtues, and to be subject to the laws of the Spirit,
and with all readiness to seek after the things of Grod,
which are able to support 5 us unto salvation : — I will grant
that this truly beseemeth him who knoweth his own nature,
and is not ignorant that he hath been made a reasonable
creature after the Image of Him that created Mm. Therefore
as the Saviour somewhere saith, Take we no thought, what
shall we eat ? or, what shall we drink ? or, wherewithal shall
we be clothed ? but considering that the soul 6 is more than
meat, and the body than raiment, let us take thought how
the more precious part of us may do well.
For though the body do well, and be fat with succession
of delights, it will not profit the miserable soul ; but on the
contrary, will work it much harm. For it will depart into the
everlasting fire, since they who have wrought no good,
must needs undergo punishment for it : but if the body
but brings it to Fire. The soul's Food unto Life. 347
have been bridled with due reason, and brought under the £"^4
law of the Spirit, both must surely be saved together. It is
then most absurd, that for the flesh we should so take
thought, which is but for a time and even now shall perish,
as to think that it ought not to lack any one thing which it
loves : and to take care for the soul, by way of appendix, or
as though it were nothing worth 7 ; albeit I think we ought 7 T $
to apply ourselves so much the rather to cares for the soul, ^a-piaovvy
as it is of more value than the body. For so of a truth pre- 2'iuewith
ferring what surpasses in the comparison to what is inferior, nothing
and giving a just vote in this matter, we shall become holy
and wise jurors, and not bestow upon any other the palm of
right reasoning, but rather shall put it upon our own heads.
Let us then, as the Saviour saith, labour not for the meat
which perisheth, which when it hath passed into the belly, and
for a very little while deluded the mind with pettiest plea-
sure, goeth out into the draught, and is conveyed forth
again from the belly. But the spiritual food which
strengtheneth the heart, keepeth the man unto life everlast- Ps. civ.
ing, which also Christ promiseth to give us, saying,
Which the Son of Man shall give unto you ; at once knitting
the human with that which is Divine, and connecting the
whole mystery of the economy with Flesh in its order.
But He hints, I suppose, at the Mystic and more Spi-
ritual Food, whereby we live in Him, sanctified in body
and soul. But we shall see Him speaking more openly of
this hereafter. The discourse then must be kept for its fit
time and place.
15.
CHAPTER V.
That the Only-Begotten Son is the Impress of the Person of God
the Father, and no other Impress either is, or is conceived of,
save He.
which the Son of Man shall give unto you : for Him the Fa-
ther sealed, God.
He was not ignorant, as God, of the charges that would
• result from Jewish folly, nor of the reasons why they were
often foolishly enraged. He knew that they would reason
in themselves, looking to the flesh alone, and not conceiving
of God the Word therein, Who is This That seizeth upon
God-befitting words ? for who can give unto men food
that keepeth them unto everlasting life ? for wholly fo-
reign to man's nature is such a thing, and it beseemeth
Him Alone Who is God over all. The Saviour therefore
defends Himself beforehand, and by seasonable arguments,
« a$v P o- gh am es their looked-for shameless talk l . For He says that
yKuTTiar , ...
the Son of Man will give them the food which nourisheth
them unto everlasting life, and immediately affirmed that
He is sealed by the Father. Sealed again is either put
for anointed (for he who is anointed is sealed), or as shew-
ing that He has been by Nature formed unto the Father.
Just as if He had said, I am not unable to give you food
which endureth and bringeth up unto everlasting life and de-
2 rpv<pitp light 3 . For though I seem as one of you, that is Man with
flesh, yet was I anointed and sealed by God the Father unto
an exact Likeness with Him. For ye shall see (He saith)
that He is in Me, and I again in Him Naturally, even though
for your sakes I was born Man of a woman, according to
the Ineffable order of the economy. For I can do all
things in God-befitting Authority and do not in any way
come short of the Might inherent in My Father. And
God and Man One Christ.
349
though God the Father giveth you the Spiritual Food, Chap. 5.
which preserveth unto everlasting life, it is clear that the
Son too will give it, even though made in Flesh, since He is
His Exact Image ; the Likeness in every thing being con-
ceived, not after the lineaments of flesh, nor yet ought con-
ceived of in bodily form, but in God-befitting glory and
Equal Power and royal Authority. But we must observe
again, that when He says that the Son of Man will give
the things God-befitting and that He hath been sealed unto
the Image of God the Father, He endureth not the divi-
sion of him that separateth the Temple of the Virgin from
the true Sonship, but defines Himself and willeth to be
conceived of again as One. For One in truth over us is
Christ, bearing as it were the royal purple His Own Robe 3 , 3 4><W«
I mean His Human Body, or His Temple, to wit of Soul
and Body; since One too of Both is Christ.
But, most excellent sir, will the Christ-opposer again say,
give the truth the power of overcoming: deal not subtilly 4 * ^ ra(re -
with the saying, dishonourably 5 turning it about, whither- Acts vii.
soever thou wilt. Lo clearly hereby is the Son proved to 5 ' i, K
be not of the Essence of the Father, but rather a copy 6 of f?*™^-
His Essence. Suppose some such thing (say they) as we "'"V" 1
say : A seal or signet impressed on wax, for example, or
any other matter fit to receive it, and engraving a like-
ness only of itself, is taken away again by him who pressed
it on, having lost no part of itself: so the Father, having
imposed and imprinted Himself Wholly upon the Son in
some way by a most accurate Likeness, from Himself hath
He surely no part of His Essence, nor is conceived of as
therefrom but a mere image and accurate likeness.
Let him that is zealous for knowledge see that now too
is our opponent darting on us, like a serpent, and rears
aloft his head surcharged with venom : but He Who shat-
tereth the heads of the Dragon, will shatter it too, and will p s. lxxiv.
give us power to escape his manifold stubbornness. Let
him then tell us, who has just been dinning us with dread-
ful words, Does not the seal or signet, which is made (it
may be) of wood or of iron or of gold, full surely seal with
350
The Son in the Father and of Him.
!*■!
Book 3.
c. vi. 27.
.'*
HeK i. 3.
7 x a P aK -
r^ip TTJS
{nroarr&a-
€C0S
8 X a P«-
Krijpa
1 itirat-
yaff/j-a
2 owau-
•yd^byTt
3 irpoittiir-
rovra
4 ISlKUS
5 (Accept-
Ps. iv. 6
LXX.
ddr)
some impress those things whereon it comes, and will it
not be and be conceived of as a seal apart from the im-
press ? But I suppose that any one of our opponents too,
even against his will constrained by fitness unto the very
truth would confess that it will by all means seal with an
impress ; and without an impress, according to fair reason-
ing, not at all. Since then, as the Divine Scripture tes-
tifieth to us, the Son is the Impress of the Person 7 of God
the Father, in that He is in It and of It by Nature, where-
upon is Himself impressed, or through whom else will the
Father seal His Own Impress 8 ? For no one will say
that the Father is not altogether in God-befitting Form,
which is the Son, the Form of Him That begat Him ;
Whom if any behold spiritually, it is manifest that he
will see the Father. Wherefore He says that He too is
in Him Naturally, even though He be conceived to be
of 9 Him by reason of His Own Existence : as the bright-
ness 1 for instance, is in the brightening 3 and of the
brightening, and something different, according to the
mode of conception, and again not different, as viewed in
relation to it, because it is said to be of it, and again in
it. And not I suppose in the way of division and com-
plete essential partition are these things considered of : for
they are inherent in respect of identity of essence in
those things whence they are, and of which they are be-
lieved to be, tending forth 3 according to expression in
idea to something else, of their own 4 , yet not separate 5 .
The Word of the Essence of the Father, not bare Word, nor
without Flesh, is sealed then by the Father, yea rather
through Him are sealed those things which are brought to
likeness with God, as far as cari be, as we understand in
that which certain say, The light of Thy Countenance was
marked 6 upon us, Lord. For he says that the Counten-
ance of God the Father, is the Son, Which is again the Im-
press, but the light thereof is the grace which through the
Spirit passeth through unto the creation, whereby we are
remoulded unto God through faith, receiving through Him
as with a seal, the conformation unto His Son, Who is
The Son God or the Father begat not.
351
the Image of the Father, that our being made after the Chap. 5.
Image and Likeness of the Creator, might be well pre- c ' V1 ' " '
served in us. But since the Son is confessedly the Coun-
tenance of God the Father, He will surely be the Impress
too with which God seals.
Yea (says our opponent) we believe that God through
the Spirit seals the Saints, but the things that you are
bringing forward have no place in the present question.
Wherefore we will recapitulate and say, The seal supposed
to be of iron, or may be gold, impresses its own likeness on
. the matter whereon it comes, losing nothing of its own,
but by the operation only of its being pressed on does it
mark the things that receive it : thus do we hold that the
Son has been sealed by the Father, not having ought of His
Essence but possessing merely an accurate likeness thereof,
and being Other than He, as the image to the arche-
type.
boundless folly, and perilous conceit ! how easily hast
thou forgotten those things just now gone through. For
we said that the Son was the Impress 7 of the Father, i X a P ait.
and that with Him was sealed other than He, and not Him-
self, lest He be thought to be His Own Impress. But thou,
having not rightly spurned our argument hereon, dost not
blush to put about Him a likeness of operation only. In
image only then will the Son be God according to you, and
by Nature not at all, but merely in that He was fashioned
and well formed after the Likeness of Him That begat;
haply no longer of Him That begat : for it is time that ye
should on these accounts take away the begetting also, yea
rather there is every need even if ye will it not. On the
duty of believing that the Son is begotten of the Father,
we have already expended much argument, or shall do so in
its place. But it were more fitting that we should proceed
to the matter in hand, putting forward to those who are
accustomed unrestrainedly to shameless talk the question,
Will they not surely say that that which is given may
also be taken away, and confess that that which is
added can altogether be also lost ? for does it not at
rripa.
352
Likeness to God may be lost.
Book 3.
c. vi. 27.
" irvpwffiv
9 veavt-
ko'i, with
the force
that
belongs to
youth.
Ezek.
xxviii. 12
LXX.
some time happen that every thing is rejected, which is
not firmly rooted in any by nature? It is evident, even
should any of them not assent thereto. Some time then
or other, according to the argument of possibility, the Son
will be bereft of His Likeness. For He was sealed (as
ye say) by the mere Operation of His Father upon Him,
not having the stability that'is of natural Endowments, but
conceived of and existing wholly other than His Father,
and completely severed from His Essence. Doing then
very excellently and fore-seeing matters by most cunning
reasoning did ye secure the Father, by saying that He
gives nought of Himself to the Son, save that He vouch-
safes Him Likeness only, lest ought of passion should be
conceived of as about Him. For this is your foolish mys-
tery. For belike ye were ignorant that God the Father
Who doeth all things without passion, will also beget with-
out passion, and is superior to fire (for the argument brings
us down to this necessity) which without passion or cor-
poreal division, begets the burning 8 which is of it. Let
those then hear who are zealous 9 in fancies only, and
account unrestrained blasphemy to be not an unholy thing,
but rather a virtue, that if they say that the Son is classed
with the Father, in the propriety 1 of likeness alone, He
will abide in no secure possession of good things, but will
wholly risk His being by Nature God, and will in pos-
sibility at least, admit of change for the worse. For there
was said to that governor of Tyre too, words which reason
necessitates us to attribute to the person of the devil, Thou
art the seal of the likeness : but he to whom that speech is
addressed, is found to have fallen from the likeness. Thou
seest then, and clearly too, by such instances, that the
mere being in the likeness of God is no security for an
unmoved stability in things spiritual, nor yet does it suffice
to perfect endurance in the good things in which they
are, to have been duly sealed unto the Nature of the
Maker. For they too fall, and are borne headlong, oft-
times changing into a worse mind, than they had at the be-
ginning. It is then possible, according to this argument,
I,
The Son God, worshipped and at the Bight Hand. 353
that the Son, attaining to Likeness with the Father by
sameness of work only, and not firm fixed by the prop 2
by Nature, but having His stability in the mere motions
of His Own Will, should undergo change, or, though He
do not suffer it, should find the not so suffering the re-
sult of admirable purpose 3 , and not rather the steadfast-
ness of Native stability, as God.
What then, most noble sirs, is the Son no longer God
in truth? And if according to you, He is so found, why do
we worship Him ? why is He co-glorified with God the Fa-
ther ? why is He borne, as God, upon the highest Powers ?
Are then with us the Holy Seraphim themselves too igno-
rant that they do greatly err from what is fit, in glorifying
Him Who is not by Nature God ? They err, it seems, in
calling Him Who is honoured with equal honour Lord of
Sabaoth. Or shall we not say, that the highest Powers,
Principalities Thrones and Dominions and Lordships, essay,
after their power, to appear conformed to God ? For if the
so small animal of the earth, in respect of that creation, I
mean man, be honoured with such beauty, what reason has
one not for fully thinking, that to them who are far better
than we, far better things are allotted ? How then do they
both call Him Lord of Sabaoth, and stand around as a
guard, as ministering to the King of the universe ? why
sitteth He with the Father, and that on His Eight Hand,
the -bond with the Lord, the creature with the Creator ?
For is it not fitter to bring that which by means of heed 4
and wariness is free from passion and perfect, to the level
of things originate rather than of God by Essence Who
hath Naturally the inability to suffer ? But it is manifest,
though they confess it not. WTio then will endure these
babblers, or how will they not with reason hear, Woe to
them that are drunken without wine ?
But perchance they will Be ashamed of the absurdities of
such arguments, and will betake themselves to this, and
say, that the Son was sealed by the Father unto a most
accurate Likeness, and is Unchangeable in Nature, even
though He be not from the Father.
vol. i. A a
Chap. 5.
c. vi. 27.
2 vwofid-
3 irpoai-
piaws
Isa. vi. 3.
*irpo<ro-
lb.
xxviii. 1
LXX.
354 The Son God, lest the creature share some Divine
\% :
Book 3.
c. vi. 27.
5 rh XStov
avrov
6 irpoe\-
Obv
7 ra IfSja
9 rb tdiov
avrov
How then, tell me, will that which is not of God by Na-
ture, bear His Attribute 5 , and that be found not without
share-essentially of the Excellences of the Divine Essence,
which proceeded 6 not therefrom, after the true mode of ge-
neration ? For it is, I suppose, clear and confessed by all,
that the Properties 7 of the Godhead are wholly unattainable
by the created nature, and that the qualities belonging
to It by Nature will not exist in ought else that is, in equal
and exact manner : as for example, Immutability is in
God Naturally ; in us by no means so, but a kind of stabi-
lity likens 8 us thereto, through heed and vigilance not suf-
fering us readily to go after those things which we ought
not. But if it were possible, that according to them, ought
of Divine Attributes should be in any who is not of the
Divine Nature Essentially, and that they should be so in
him as they are in It; what (tell me) is to prevent all
things God-befitting from at length coming down even
upon those who are not by nature gods ? For if one of them
unhindered finds place (I mean Immutability) there will be
room for the rest also, and what follows ? utter confusion.
For will not the superior pass below, and the inferior mount
up into the highest place ? And what is there yet to hinder
even the Most High God from being brought down to
our level, and us again from being gods even as the Father,
when there no longer is or is seen any difference inter-
vening, if the qualities which belong to God Only pass to
us, and are in us naturally ? And since God the Father
contains in Himself Alone, as it seems, those Properties
whereby we should be as He, we have remained men, and
the angels likewise with us what they are, not mounting
up to That which is above all. For if God should reveal
Himself not Jealous, by putting His Own Attribute 9 into
the power of all, many surely would be those who were by
nature gods, able to create earth and heaven and all the
rest of the creation. For the Excellencies of Him Who is
by Nature the Creator having once passed on, how will not
they be as He is ? or what prevents that which is radiant
with equal goods from appearing in equal glory ? But the
attribute. Each Person exists, Godhead not parted, 355
God-opposer surely sees completely, how great the rnulti- Chap. 5.
tude of strange devices which is hence heaped up upon us °' V1 *
and exclaims against the mislearning l that is in him. The J Suoyta-
Godhead then will remain in Its Own Nature, and the crea-
ture will partake of It through spiritual relationship 3 , 2 oIku6-
but will never mount up unto the Dignity that unchange- TVT ° S
ably belongs to It. But our argument being thus arranged,
we shall find that Immutability exists Essentially in the
Son : He is then God by Nature, and of necessity of 3 the 3 4k
Father, lest ought that is not of Him by Nature should
reach to an equal dignity of Godhead.
But since they hold out to us as an incontestable argu-
ment their saying that the Son is other than the Father,
as Image to archetype, and through this subtlety 4 think 4 ebpe-
to sever Him from the Essence of Him That begat Him, ^ ° yias
they shall be caught in no slight folly, and to have studied
their assertion to no purpose, of any force in truth to
accomplish fairly what they have at heart. For what fur-
ther are they vainly contending for, or whence do they
from only the distinctness of His own Being 5 , sever the 5 «.wb
Son from the Father ? For the fact that He exists Per- Kal^isktl
sonally 6 does not (I suppose) prove that He is diverse from j^eTJ^-
the Essence of Him who begat Him. For He is confessedly ™*
of the Father, as being of His Essence ; He is again in the a-rdrocs
Father, by reason of His being in Him by Nature ; and you infra xvi.
will hear Him say, at one time, I proceeded forth from the ff ' vm '
Father, and am come, again at another time, I am in the jj? xiv *
Father and the Father in Me. For He will not withdraw 7 «* 'Sh-
into a Personality 7 wholly and completely separated, see- 8 nark
ing that the Holy Trinity is conceived of as being in One ^ ( w ff '.
Godhead; but being in the Father, in mode or position <Tlv * Sld -
undivided as to consubstantiality 8 , He will be conceived of T V &>* *"
as likewise of 9 Him, according to the Procession which ttjti
ineffably manifesteth Him x in respect of beaming forth 3 . 1 ^ t4
For He is Light of Light. Therefore in the Father and * P . 6 ?\T
of the Father, alike Undivided and separate, in Him as &<*>«*t<-
Impress, but as Image to Archetype will He be conceived 2 faavyd-
of in His Own 3 Person. But we will not simply discourse z^Jisia
a a 2
m
mi/*
Book 3.
c. vi. 28.
Exod.
XXX.
12, 13.
4 shekel
Heb.
• vapa
6 iStotru-
ardrws
~l SlCMfK-
0/4/ltVCiJS
356 Father and Son ai'i JEWi yet are not separate.
concerning this, but will confirm it by example from the
Law, on all sides fortifying the force of truth against those
who think otherwise.
The Law then appointed to the children of Israel to
give to every man a ransom for his poll, half a didrachm *.
But one stater contains a didrachm. Yea and herein again
was shadowed out to us Christ Himself, Who offered Him-
self for all, as by 5 all, a Ransom to God the Father, and is
understood in the one drachma, but not separately from
the other, because that in the one coin, as we said before,
two drachmae are contained. Thus may both the Son
be conceived of in respect of the Father, and again the
Father in t respect of the Son, Both in One Nature, but
Each Separate in part, as existing in His own Person 6 ,
yet not wholly severed 7 , nor One apart from the Other.
And as in the one coin were two drachmae, having equal
bulk with one another, and in no ways one less than the
other; so shalt thou conceive of the in nought differing
Essence of the Son in respect of God the Father, and
again of the Father in respect of the Son, and thou shalt
at length receive wholesome doctrine upon all points spoken
of concerning Him.
28 They said therefore unto Him, What shall we do, that we
29 might work the work of God 9 Jesus answered and said
unto them,
Not of good purpose is the enquiry, nor yet as one might
suppose does the question proceed from desire of know-
ledge on their part, but is rather the result of exceeding
arrogance. For as if they would deign to learn nought
beyond what they knew already, they well nigh say some-
thing of this sort, Sufficient, good Sir, to us are the
writings of Moses : we know as much as we need of the
things at which he who is skilful in the works of God
ought to aim. What new thing then wilt Thou supply,
in addition to those which were appointed at that time ?
what strange thing wilt Thou teach, which was not shewn
us before by the Divine words ? The enquiry then is
rather of folly, than really of a studious will. You have
Boasting reply of rich youth. Trust due to teachers. 357
something of this kind in blessed Matthew too. For a cer-
tain young man, overflowing with not the most easily-got-
ten abundance of wealth, was intimating that he would
enter upon the due service of God. When he came to Je-
sus, he eagerly enquired what he should do, that he might
be found an heir of everlasting life. To whom the Lord
saith, Thou knowest surely the commandments, Bo not kill,
Do not commit adultery, Do not bear false witness, and the
like. But he, as lacking none of these things, or even not
accepting an exposition of teaching which fell far short
of his existing practice, says. All these things have I kept
from my youth up, what lack I yet ? what then he did join-
ing haughtiness to ignorance in his question, what lack I
yet, the same do these too through their over much arro-
gance alike and self-conceit 8 , saying, What shall we do,
that we might work the works of God?
A good thing then is a low conceit, and it is the work
of a noble 9 soul, to commit to her teachers the thorough
knowledge of what is profitable, and so to yield to their
lessons, which thev think it right to instil 1 , seeing they
are superior in knowledge. For how shall they be ac-
cepted at all as teachers, if they have not superiority of
understanding above what the mind of their pupils hath,
since their advance will scarcely end at the measure of
their masters' knowledge, according to the word of the
Saviour, The disciple is not above his Master, and, It is
enough for the disciple that he be as his Master?
This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He
sent.
Most severely doth the Lord, even though secretly as
yet and obscurely, attack the folly of the questioners.
For one would suppose, looking merely at the simple
meaning of the words, that Jesus was commanding them
nothing else, save to believe on Him : but on examining
the intent of the words, he will see that they refer to
something else. For full well does He arrange His dis-
course suitably to the folly of the questioners. For they,
as though they learnt sufficiently through the Law how
Chap. 5.
c. vi. 29.
S. Luke
xviii. 20.
S. Mntth.
xix. 20.
8 SoKrjcri-
atxplav
a evye-
vovs
S. Matth.
x. 24.
lb. 25.
358
Belief in the Truth surpasses types.
Book 3.
c. vi. 29.
Supra
ver. 28
to work what was well -pleasing to God, blasphemously
neglect the teaching of our Saviour, saying, what shall
we do, that we might work the work of God ? But it was
necessary that He should shew them, that they were still
very far removed from the worship most pleasing unto
God, and that they knew no whit of the true good things,
who cleaving to the letter of the law, have their mind
full of mere types and forms. Therefore with some great
emphasis does He say, opposing the fruit of faith to the
worship of the Law, This is the work of God that ye believe
on Him whom He sent. That is, it is not what ye sup-
posed (He says) looking to the types alone; but know
ye, even though ye will not learn it, that the Lawgiver
took no pleasure in your sacrifices of oxen, nor needest
thou to sacrifice sheep, as though God willed and required
this. For what is frankincense, though it curl in the air
in fragrant steam, what will the he-goat profit (saith He)
Ps. 1. 13. and the costly offerings of cinnamon ? God eateth not the
flesh of bulls, nor yet drinketh He the blood of goats : He
knoweth alv the jowvs of the Heaven, and the wild beasts of
the field are with Him. But He hath hated and despised
your feasts, and will not smell in your solemn assemblies, as
Himself saith: nor spake He unto your fathers concerning
whole burnt offerings or sacrifices. Therefore not this is the
tvork of God, but rather that, that ye should believe on Him
ivhom He sent. For of a truth better than the legal and
typical worship is the salvation through faith and the grace
that justifieth than the commandment that condemneth.
The work then of the pious soul is faith to Christ-ward,
and more excellent far the zeal for to become wise in the
knowledge of Him, than the cleaving to the typical shadows.
You will marvel also at this besides : for whereas Christ
was wont to take no notice of those who questioned Him,
tempting Him, He answers this for the present economi-
cally (even though He knew that they would be nothing
profited) to their own condemnation, as He says elsewhere
too, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not
had sin ; but now they have no cloke for their sin.
lb. 11.
Amos v.
21.
Jer. vii.
22.
Infra xv.
22.
The Jews give the palm to Moses.
359
30 They said therefore unto Him, What sign doest Thou then, Chap. 5.
that we may see and believe Thee ? what dost Thou work ? vu '
31 our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written, Bread
from Heaven gave He them to eat.
The disposition of the Jews unveils itself by little and
little, although hidden and as yet buried in less overt
reasonings. For they were saying in their folly, What shall Supra^
we do that ive might work the ivorhs of God? as if, as we said
before, they held the commandment through Moses suffi-
cient to conduct them to all wisdom, whereby they might
know how to perform what was well -pleasing unto God.
But their aim being such was concealed, but is now being
unveiled, and by little and little comes forth more plainly.
For nothing is secret, as the Saviour says, that shall not be ^. L ^ e
made manifest. What then (are they saying) What sign
sheivest Thou ? The blessed Moses was honoured (he says)
and with great reason, he was set forth as a mediator be-
tween God and man. Yea and he gave too a sufficient sign,
for all they that were with him ate the manna in the wilder-
ness. But do Thou at length, since Thou comest to us in a
position greater than his, and dost not shrink from adding
to the things decreed of old, with what signs wilt Thou give
us a warrant, or what of wondrous works dost Thou shew-
ing us, introduce Thyself as the Author of more novel doc-
trines unto us ? Hereby too is our Saviour's word shewn
to be true : for they are convicted by their own words of
thinking that they ought to seek Him, not to admire Him
for those things which He had in God-befitting manner
wrought, but because they did eat of the loaves and were Supra
filled. For they demand of Him a sign, not any chance
one, but such as (they thought) Moses wrought, when not
for one day, but for forty whole years, he fed the people
that came out of Egypt in the wilderness, by the supply
of manna. For, knowing nothing at all (it seems) of the
Mysteries in the Divine Scriptures, they did not consider
that it was fit to attribute the marvellous working hereun-
to to the Divine power which wrought it, but very foolishly
crown the head of Moses for this. They therefore ask of
u •
360
Cheist they own not.
Book 3.
vi. 30, 31.
ivapy&s
Christ a sign equal to that, giving no wonder at all to the
sign which had been shewn them for a day, even though it
were great, but saying that the gift of food ought to be
extended to them for a long time. For that even so hardly
would He shame them into confessing and agreeing that
most glorious was the Power of the Saviour, and His Doc-
trine therefore to be received. Manifest then is it even
though they do not say it in plain terms 2 , that they wholly
disregard signs, and under pretext of marvelling at them,
are zealous to serve the impure pleasure of the belly.
£'■
M
CHAPTER VI.
Of the manna, that it was a type of Christ's Presence and of the
spiritual graces through Him.
32 Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
not Moses hath given you the Bread from Heaven,
Now too does the Saviour most severely convict them of
being without understanding, and exceedingly ignorant of
what is in the Mosaic writings. For they ought to have
known quite clearly that Moses was ministering the things
of God to the people, and again those of the children of
Israel to God, and was himself the worker in none of the
miracles, but a minister rather and under-worker of those
things which the Giver to them of all good things willed
to do for the benefit of those who had been called out of
bondage. What they then were impiously imagining, this
Christ very resolutely cuts away (for to attribute things
which befit and are due to the Divine Nature Alone, to the
honour of men and not rather to It, how is not this replete
with folly alike and impiety ?) and in that He deprived the
hierophant Moses of the miracle, and withdrew it out of
his hand, it is (I suppose) manifest that He rather attributes
the glory of it to Himself together with the Father, even
though He abstained from speaking more openly, by reason
of the uninstructedness of His hearers. For it was a thing
truly not contrary to expectation, that they should rage 1 , 1 diroT««
as though Moses were insulted by such words, and should f ot,r t ai
be kindled unto intemperate anger, never enquiring what
the truth was, nor recognizing the dignity of the Speaker,
but heedlessly going about to only honour Moses, and not
reasonably as it happened, when he was compared with
what excelled him.
Let us learn then, with more judgment and reason, to
362 Saints to be honoured. Manna not the Bread
Rom.xiii,
7.
1 Cor.
xiv. 32.
Ps.
lxxxix. 6,
Book 3. practise respect towards our lioly fathers and to render, as
' it is written, fear to whom fear, honour to whom honour
(for we shall in no wise injure, if we render what fittingly
belongs to each, since the spirits of the Prophets are subject
to the Prophets) but when any discourse about our Saviour
Christ is entered into, then we must needs say, Who in the
clouds can be equalled unto the Lord ? or who among the
sons of the mighty shall be Weened unto the Lord ?
but My Father giveth you the True Bread from heaven :
33 for the Bread of God is He ivhich cometh down from heaven
and giveth life unto the world.
It was needful not only to remove Moses from God-be-
fitting Authority, according to their conception, and to
shew that he was a minister of that miraculous working,
rather than the bestower of it, but also to lessen the wonder
though miraculously wrought, and to shew that it was no-
thing at all in comparison with the greater. For imagine
Christ calling out something like this, The great things,
sirs, do ye reckon among the little and meanest, and the
beneficence of the Lord of all ye have meted out with most
petty limits. For with no slight folly do ye suppose that
the manna is the Bread from heaven, although it fed the
race alone of the Jews in the wilderness, while there are
other nations besides without number throughout the
world. And ye supposed that God willed to shew forth
lovingkindness so contracted, as to give food to one peo-
2 t5 " , pie only (for these were types of universalities 2 , and in the
ytv utter e- . ^ . . .
f~»v partial was a setting forth of His general Munificence, as
it were in pledge, to those who first received it) : but when
the time of the Truth was at our doors, My Father giveth
* you the Bread from heaven, which was shadowed forth to
them of old in the gift of the manna. For let no one
think (saith He) that that was in truth the Bread from
heaven, but rather let him give his judgment in favour of
That, which is clearly able to feed the whole earth, and
' u\ws to give in full 8 life unto the world.
He accuses therefore the Jew of cleaving to the typical
from Heaven, but Christ, our very Life. Olden type of Him. 363
observances, and refusing to examine into the beauty of Chap.g.
the Truth. For not that was, properly speaking, the yi ' '
manna, but the Only-Begotten Word of God Himself, who
proceedeth 4 from the Essence of the Father, since He is 4 «px<W-
by Nature Life, and quickeneth all things. For since He
sprang of the Living Father, He also is by Nature Life,
and since the work of that which is by Nature Life is to
quicken, Christ quickeneth all things. For as our earthly
bread which is gotten of the earth suffereth not the frail
nature of flesh to waste away : so He too, through the
operation of the Spirit quickeneth our spirit, and not only
so, but also holdeth together our very body unto incor-
ruption.
But since our meditations have once got upon the subject
of manna, it will not be amiss (I think) for us to consider
and say some little on it also, bringing forward out of the
Mosaic books themselves severally the things written there-
on. For thus having made the statement of the matter
most clear 5 , we shall rightly discern each of the things » tlicpiv-
signified therein. But we will shew through them all, that e<rraT7! "
the Very Manna is Christ Himself, understood as given
under the type of manna to them of old by God the Fa-
ther. The beginning of the oracles thereon, speaks on this
wise, On the fifteenth day of the second month after their de- Exod
' J J 7 7 7 ±- /.XV1. 1-3.
parting out of the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of
the children of Israel were murmuring against Moses and
Aaron, and the children of Israel said unto them, Would
to God we had died, stricken by the Lord in the land of
Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots and tvere eating bread
to the full, for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness to
kill this whole assembly with hunger. The matter then of
the history is clear and very plain, and I do not think it
needs any words to test the obvious 6 meaning : but we will 6 n P 6 X ei-
speak of it, looking only to the spiritual meaning. The p ° v
children of Israel then, while still in the country of the
Egyptians, by Divine command were keeping typically
their feast to Christ, and having taken their supper 7 of the i 6oii>ns
lamb, did thus hardly escape the tyranny of Pharaoh's
'at
364 Israel lusting in desert depicts our tempests.
Book 3.
vi. 32, 33.
8 Oi)Ttlav
v KO.TCL-
irrjtiwv-
TfS
1 airoSrjfi-
lav, the
going out
2 efhnliia,-
(6/j.evpi
3 avKori-
pav
1 iucri&las
Exod.
xvi. 4,
rule and shake off the intolerable yoke of bondage. Then
having miraculously crossed the Red sea, they got into the
wilderness : and there famishing craved flesh to eat, and
were dragged down to the accustomed desire for food : and
so they began murmuring against Moses and fall into
repenting of their free gift from God when they ought to
have given no small thanks for it. Egypt then will be
darkness, and will signify the condition of the present life,
and the worldly state, wherein we enrolled as in some
state, serve a bitter serfdom 8 therein, working nothing at
all to Godward but fulfilling only the works most delight-
some to the Devil, and hasting down 9 unto the pleasures
of impure flesh, like clay or stinking mud, enduring a mi-
serable toil, unpaid, profitless, and pursuing a wretched
(so to say) love of pleasure.
But when the Law of God speaks to our soul, and we
behold at length the bitter bondage of these things, then
oh then do we, thirsting after riddance x from all evil, come
to Christ Himself, as to the beginning and door of free-
dom, and provisioned 2 with the security and grace that
come through His Precious Blood, we leave the carnal
condition of this life, as it were a troublous and stormy
sea, and, out of all the tumult of the world, we at length
reach a more spiritual^ and purer state, as it were so-
journing in the wilderness. But since he is not unexer-
cised unto virtue, who is through the Law instructed there-
unto, when we find that we are at length in this case, then
we falling into the temptations which try us, are some-
times devoured by the memory of carnal lusts, and then,
when the lust inflames us mightily, we cry oftentimes out
of recklessness 4 , albeit the Divine Law hath called us to
liberty, being as it were in hunger for our old accustomed
pleasures, and making slight account of our toils after
temperance, we look upon the bondage of the world as
no longer evil. And in truth, the will of the flesh is suf-
ficient to draw the mind to all faintheartedness after good-
ness.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Behold I rain you bread
Christ enmightens. Jews not punished at first, why. 365
from heaven. In these words you may very clearly see Chap .6.
J -. , j j, VI. 6a, OO.
that which is sung in the Psalms, He gave them bread of Ps .
heaven; man did eat angels' bread. But it is, I suppose, 2**25!"
evident to all, that of the reasonable Powers in heaven,
none other is the Bread and Food, save the Only Be-
gotten of God the Father. He then is the True Manna,
the Bread from heaven, given to the whole rational crea-
tion by God the Father. But entering into the order of
our subject we say this: Observe how the Divine grace-
from above draws unto itself the nature of man even
though at times sick after its wonted things, and saves
it in manifold wise. For the lust of the flesh like a
stone falling on the mind thrusts it down, and despo-
tically forces it unto its own will; but Christ brings us
round again, as with a bridle, unto longing for better
things, and recovers them that are diseased unto God-
loving habit of mind. For lo, lo to them that are sinking
down into carnal pleasures, He promises to give Food from
Heaven, the consolation, that is, through the Spirit, the
Spiritual Manna. Through this are we strengthened un-
to all endurance and manliness and obtain that we fall not
through infirmity into those things we ought not. The
Spiritual Manna therefore, that is, Christ, was strengthen-
ing us before too unto piety.
But since we have once, by reason of need, digressed, I
think it well not to leave the subject uninvestigated, since
it is very conducive to our profit. Some one then may
reasonably ask, Why is God who is so Loving to man and
so loveth virtue 5 when it behoved Him to forecome their 5 ^V-
request, tardy 6 in respect of His Promise: and He nowise s^rre-
punishes those so perverse men, albeit He punished them pifet
afterwards, when they were sick with the same lusting,
and pictured to themselves bread to the full, and fleshpots,
and admitted longing for the rankest 7 onions. For wenvawZe.
shall find in Numbers, that both certain were punished, * rT<£ ' ra "'
and the place, wherein they were then encamping, wasN um - xi -
called the graves of lust 8 , for there they buried the people 8 Kib-
that lusted. With respect then to the first question, we \l &y ^ '
366 The
1 '
Book 3.
vi. 32, 33,
9 a.K7]5l-
as, the
being out
of heart
1 tcrofioi-
p-fj<T€t
2 aicrjSlas
Ps. civ.
15.
lb.
xxxvii.
4.
a awo-
K\t)p<!>(TO-
Exod.
xvi. 4.
cry of babes heard, the stronger must fight.
say that it assuredly behoved Him to wait for the desire,
and so at length to reveal Himself in due season the Giver.
For most welcome is the gift to those in good case, when
certain pleasures appear before it and precede it, inciting
to thirst after what is not yet come : but the soul of man
will be devoid of a more grateful sensation, if it do not
first stretch after and labour for the pleasures of being
well off. But perhaps you will say that there had been
no way any entreaty from them, but murmuring rather,
repentance, and outcry : for this would indeed be speak-
ing more truly. To this we say, that entreaty through
prayer will befit those who are of a perfect habit : and per-
chance the murmuring of the more feeble from depression 9
or whatever cause, will partake 1 of this : and the Saviour
of all, being loving to man is not altogether angry at it.
For as in those who are yet babes, crying will sometimes
avail to the asking of their needs, and the mother is often
called by it to find out what will please the child : so to
those who were yet babes, and had not yet advanced to
understanding, the cry of weariness 2 so to say, has the
force of petition before God. And He punisheth not in
the beginning, even though He see them worsted by
earthly lusts, but after a time, for this reason, as seems
to me. They who were but newly come forth of Egypt,
not having yet received the manna, nor having the Bread
from heaven, which strengtheneth man's heart, fall as might
be expected, into carnal lusts, and therefore are pardoned.
But they who had already delighted in the Lord, as it is
written, on preferring carnal delights to the spiritual good
things, have to give most righteous satisfaction, and over
and above their suffering have assigned them 3 a notable
memorial of their fate. For the graves of lust is the name
of the place of their punishment.
And the jpeojple shall go out and gather the day's portion
each day. We will consider the sensible manna a type of the
spiritual manna; and the spiritual manna signifies Christ
Himself, but the sensible manna adumbrates the grosser
teaching of the Law. With reason is the gathering daily,
S&hba,th.ourrestatGhrist , scoming.l)o\ih\egathering ) what. 367
and the lawgiver forbids keeping it till the morrow, Chap. r>.
darkly hinting to them of old, that when the time of sal- ' '
vation at length shines forth, wherein the Only Begotten
appeared in the world with Flesh, the legal types should
be wholly abolished, and the gathering food thence in
vain, while the Truth Itself lieth before us for our pleasure
and enjoyment.
And it shall come to pass, on the sixth day, and they shall lb. 5.
'prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be double ivhat
they gather. Observe again, that thou mayest understand,
that He does not suffer them to gather on the seventh
day the sensible manna, but commands that which is
already provided and gathered to be prepared for their
food beforehand. For the seventh day signifies the time
of the Advent of our Saviour, wherein we rest in holiness,
ceasing from works of sin, and receiving for food, both
the fulfilment of our faith, and the knowledge already
arranged * in us through the Law, no longer gathering 4 o-vyKt-
it as of necessity, since more excellent food is now before vr)V
us, and we have the Bread from heaven. The manna is
collected in double measure before the holy sabbath : and
you will understand thence, that the Law being concluded
in respect of its temporal close, and the holy sabbath, that
is, Christ's coming, already beginning, the getting of the
heavenly goods will be after some sort in double measure,
and the grace two-fold, bringing in addition to the advan-
tages from the Law, the Gospel instruction also. Which
the Lord Himself too may be conceived to teach when
He says, as in the form of a parable. Therefore every scribe s. Matth.
instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a wealthy*
man which putteth forth out of his treasure things new and
old : the old the things of the Law, the new those through
Christ.
And Moses and Aaron said unto all the congregation of Ex. xvi.
the children of Israel, At even ye shall know that the Lord
brought you forth from the land of Egypt, in the morning
a So reads S. Cyril constantly, in place Holy Gospel now extant seems to give
of the word householder. No Ms. of the this reading.
xiii. 52.
6, 7, 8.
368 Quails and evening intimate incompleteness.
Book 3.
vi. 32, 33.
Infra xii.
46.
• avro-
vpoac&irws
2 Cor. iii.
18.
Exod.
xvi. 13,
14.
ye shall see the glory of the Lord, in that the Lord giveth you
in the evening flesh to eat and in the morning bread to the
full. Moses promises to them of Israel, that quails shall
be given them by God in the evening, and declares that
hereby they shall know surely that the Lord brought them
up out of Egypt. And in the morning ye shall see plainly,
(he says) the glory of the Lord, when He shall give you
bread to the full. And consider, I pray you, the differ-
ence between each of these. For the quail signifies the
Law (for the bird ever flies low and about the earth) :
thus wilt thou see those too who are instructed through
the Law unto a more earthly piety through types, I mean
such as relate to sacrifice and purifications and Jewish wash-
ing. For these are heaved a little above the earth, and
seem to rise above it, but are nevertheless in it and about
it : for not in the Law is that which is perfectly good and
lofty unto understanding. Moreover it is given in the
evening : the account again by evening signifying the ob-
scurity of the letter, or the darksome condition of the
world, when it had not yet the Very Light, i. e.,. Christ,
who when He was Incarnate said, I am come a Light into
the world. But He says the children of Israel shall know
that the Lord brought them out of Egypt. For knowledge
only of the salvation generally through Christ is seen in
the Mosaic book, while grace was not yet present in very
person 5 . This very thing He hinted at, when He added,
In the morning ye shall see the glory of the Lord, in that
He giveth you bread to the full. For when the mist of
the Law, as it were night, hath been dispersed, and the
spiritual Sun hath risen upon us all, we behold as in a
glass the glory of the Lord now present, receiving the
Bread from heaven to the full, I mean Christ Himself.
And it was evening and the quails came up and covered
the camp, and in the morning as the dew ceased round about
the host, and behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small
thing, as coriander seed, white. Look at the arrangement
of the things to be considered. He says of the quails,
that they covered the camp; of the manna again, that
What signified by Manna, morning, coriander seed. 369
in the morning when the dew was gone up, it lay on the face Chap. 6.
of the wilderness round about the camp. For the instruc- ' '
tion through the Law, I mean that in types and figures,
which we have compared to the appearance of quails,
covers the synagogue of the Jews : for, as Paul saith, the 2 Cor. iii.
veil lieth upon their heart, and hardness in part. But when Rom. xi.
it was morning, that is, when Christ had now risen, and '
flashed forth upon all the world, and when the dew was
gone up, that is, the gross and mist-like introduction of
legal ordinances (for Christ is the end of the Law and the lb. x. 4.
Prophets) ; then of a surety the true and heavenly manna
will come down to us, I mean the Gospel teaching, not up-
on the congregation of the Israelites, but round about the
camp, i. e., to all the nations, and upon the face of the
ivilderness, that is the Church of the Gentiles, whereof it
is said that more are the children of the desolate than of the Isa. Uv.
married wife. For over the whole world is dispersed the
grace of the spiritual manna, which is also compared to
the coriander seed, and is called small 6 . For the power c x^rhv,
of the Divine Word being of a truth suutie •, anu. cooiing ? Xfirri]
the heat of the passions, lulleth the fire of carnal motions
within us, and entereth into the deep of the heart. For
they say that the effect of this herb, I mean the coriander,
is most cooling.
And when the children of Israel saw it they said one to Exod.
another, What is this ? for they wist not what it was ; being
unused to what had been miraculously wrought and not
being able to say from experience what it was, they say
one to another What is this ? But this very thing which
is said interrogatively, they make the name of the thing,
and call it in the Syrian tongue, Manna, i.e., What is this ?
and you will hence see, how Christ would be unknown
among the Jews. For that which prevailed in the type,
trial shewed that it had also force- in the truth.
And Moses said to them, Let no man leave of it till the lb. 19, 20.
morning ; and they hearkened not unto Moses, but sorns of
them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms and stank,
and Moses was wroth with them. The morning in this place
VOL. i. b b
Book 3.
vi. 32, 33,
V7JS
Phil. iii.
8,9.
Exod.
xvi. 33.
Rom. xi.
33.
Eccl. vii.
24.
1 '< f
1 i
i
9 ardfi-
vov XP v<r -
f .;
ovv,
f f
LXX.
i
and so S.
1 \
Paul,
Heb. ix.
4.
370 The Law's shadow transient. Pot of Manna soul
signifies the bright and most glorious time of the coming of
our Saviour, when the shadow of the Law and the mist of
the devil among the nations, being in some sort undone 8 ,
the Only-Begotten rose upon us like light, and spiritual
dawn appeared. The blessed Moses then commanded not
to leave of the typical manna until the morning ; for when
the aforementioned time hath risen upon us, superfluous
and utterly out of place are the shadows of the Law by
reason of the now present truth. For that a thing truly
useless is the righteousness of the Law when Christ hath
now gleamed forth, Paul shewed, saying of Him, for whom
I suffered the loss of all things, to wit, glorying in the Law,
and do count them dung, that I may win Christ and be found
in Sim, not having mine own righteousness which is of the
Law, but that which is th7'ough the faith of Jesus Christ.
Seest thou then, how as a wise man he took care not to leave
of it till the morning ? They who kept of it unto the morn-
ing are a type of the Jewish multitude which should believe
not, whose eager desire to keep the law in the letter, should
be a producing of corruption and of worms. For hearest
thou how the Lawgiver is exasperated greatly against them?
And Moses said unto Aaron, Take one golden pot, and put
therein manna, an omer full, and thou shalt lay it up before
Ood to be kept. Well in truth may we marvel hereat, and
say, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of
Ood! Por incomprehensible in truth is the wisdom hidden
in the God-inspired Scriptures, and deep their depth, as it is
written, who can find it out ? Thou seest then how our last
comment fitted these things : Por since Christ Himself was
shewn to be our Yery Manna, declared in type by way of
image to them of old, needs does he teach in this place, of
Whom and of what virtue and glory will he be full, who
treasureth up in himself the spiritual Manna, and bringeth
Jesus into the inmost recesses of his heart, through right
• faith in Him and perfect love. For thou hearest how the
omer full of manna was put in a golden pot 9 , and by the hand
of Aaron laid up before the Lord to be kept. Por the holy
and truly pious soul, which travaileth of the Word of Grod
!
■which contains Christ. Moses, a mediator. Jews' unwisdom. 371
perfectly in herself, and receiveth entire the heavenly trea- Chap. 6.
sure will be a precious vessel, like as of gold, and will be c ' vL ^'
offered by the High Priest of all to God the Father, and
will be brought into the Presence of Him Who holdeth all
things together and preserveth them to be kept, not suffer-
ing to "perish that which is of its own nature perishable.
The righteous man then is described, as having in a golden
vessel the spiritual Manna, that is Christ, attaining unto in-
corruption, as in the Sight a of God, and remaining to be J *"«*-
kept, that is unto long-enduring and endless life. Christ *"
with reason therefore convicts the Jews of no slight mad-
ness, in supposing that the manna was given by the all-
wise Moses to them of old, and in staying at this point their
discourse thereon and considering not one at all of the
things presignified thereby, by His saying, Verily I say
unto you, Not Moses hath given you the manna. For they
ought rather to have considered this and perceived that
Moses had brought in the service of mediation merely :
but that the gift was no invention of human hand, but the
work of Divine Grace, outlining the spiritual in the grosser,
and signifying to us the Bread from Heaven, Which giveth
Life to the whole world, and doth not feed the one race of
Israel as it were by preference 2 . 2 «ora
irp6<r-
34 They said therefore unto Him, Lord evermore give us this pirtiaUu,
35 Bread. Jesus said unto them, T.l^™'
Hereby is clearly divulged, though much desiring to be
hid, the aim of the Jews, and that one might see that it is
not lawful for the Truth to lie, which said that not because
they saw the miracles, were they therefore eager to follow
Him, but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled. Supra
With reason then were they condemned for their much ver-26 *
dulness 3 , and I suppose one should truly say to them, 3 f^a-
Lo a foolish people and without heart, they have eyes and see j«.y. 2 i.
not, they have ears and hear not. For while our Saviour
Christ by many words, as one may see, is drawing them
away from carnal imaginations, and by His all-wise teach-
ing winging them unto spiritual contemplation, they attain
Bb 2
372 Misconception of Jews as of woman of Samaria.
}.»
Book 3.
c.vi. 35.
Supra
ver. 33.
Phil. iii.
19.
lb.
Supra iv,
13, 14.
4 Svffpa-
6iav
lb. 15.
5 ifia\a-
Kl£eTO
Isa.
xxxii.
6LXX.
not above the profit of the flesh, and hearing of the Bread
which giveth life unto the world, they still picture to them-
selves that of the earth, having their belly for god, as it is
written, and overcome by the evils of the belly, that they
may justly hear, whose glory is in their shame. And you
will find such language very consonant to that of the wo-
man of Samaria. For when our Saviour Christ was ex-
pending upon her too a long discourse, and telling her of
the spiritual waters, and saying clearly, Whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a ivell of water spring-
ing up into everlasting life : she caught at it through the
dulness 4 that was in her, and letting go the spiritual foun-
tain, and thinking nothing at all about it, but sinking down
to the gift of sensible wells, says, Lord give me this water,
that I thirst not neither come hither to draw. Akin therefore
to her language is that of the Jews. For as she was weakly 5
by nature, in the same way (I think) have these too nought
nly in their understanding, but are effeminated
UXtXXKJ KJ1. I I IGtH-LX
• €U<T
irrov
unto the unmanly lusts of the belly, and shew that that is
true of them which is written, For the foolish man will utter
folly, and his heart will imagine vain things.
I am the Bread of life
It is the custom of our Saviour Christ when explaining
the more Divine and already foretold Mysteries, to make
His Discourse upon them darksome and not too transpa-
rent. For He commits not His so dread word to lie un-
veiled before the unholy and profane indiscriminately at
their pleasure, to be trodden down by them, but having
veiled it in the armour of obscurity, He renders it not in-
visible to the prudent, but when He seeth among His
hearers any foolish ones, and who understand no whit of
the things spoken, He opens clearly what He wills to
make known, and removing as it were all mist from His
Discourse, He sets the knowledge of the Mystery before
" them bare and in full view 6 , hereby rendering their unbe-
Christ veils His words yet also utters them forth. 373
lief without defence. That it was His wont (as we have
said) to use an obscure and reserved 7 method of speaking,
He will Himself teach us, saying in the Book of Psalms, I
will open My Mouth in parables. And the blessed prophet
Isaiah too no less will confirm our explanation hereof, and
shew it in no wise mistaken, proclaiming, Behold a righteous
King shall reign, and princes shall rule with judgment, and a
man shall veil his words : for he says that He has reigned
a righteous King over us who saith, Yet was I appointed
King by Him, upon Sion His holy mountain, declaring the
commandment of the Lord : and princes living together in
judgment, that is, in uprightness in every thing, he calls the
holy disciples who came to the Saviour Christ oftentimes
veiling His words, saying, Declare unto us the pay-able.
And He once on hearing the question, Why spealtest Thou
unto the multitudes in parables ? is found to have declared
most manifestly the cause, Because they seeing (He says)
see not, and hearing they hear not, nor understand. For
they were no ways worthy (it seems) seeing that God who
judgeth justly, decreed this sentence upon them. The
Saviour then, having devised many turns in His Discourse,
when He saw that His hearers understood nothing, at
length says more openly, I am the Bread, of life, and well-
nigh makes an attack upon their unmeasured want of rea-
son, saying, ye who have the mastery over all in your
incomparable uninstructedness alone, when God declares
that He will give you Bread from Heaven, and has made
you so great a promise in feeding you with manna, do ye
limit the Divine Liberality, and are ye not ashamed of
staying the grace from above at this, not knowing that it
is but a little thing both for you to receive such things of
God, and for God Himself to give them you ? Do not then
believe (saith He) that that bread is the Bread from
Heaven. For I am the Bread of Life, Who of old was fore-
announced to you as in promise, and shewn as in type, but
now am present fulfilling My due promise. I am the Bread
of Life, not bodily bread, which cutteth off the suffering
from hunger only, and freeth the flesh from the destruction
Chap. 6.
c. vi. 35.
7 iirtffKl-
aaru.4vcf
Kal
\e\rjd6rt
Ps.
Ixxviii.
2.
Isaiah
xxxii. 1,
2 LXX.
Ps. ii. 6,
7 LXX.
S. Matt.
xv. 15.
lb. xiii.
10.
lb. 13.
374
Joshua a type of Christ.
Book 3.
c. vi. 35
Josh. iii.
lb. v. 2.
8 knives
of flints
£. m.
9 (TVVfffT-
S. Matth.
i. 21.
Josh. iv.
Zech. ix
16LXX.
Col.ii.ll
therefrom, but remoulding wholly the whole living being
to eternal life, and rendering man who was formed to be
for ever, superior to death. By these words He points to
the life and grace through His Holy Flesh, through which
this property of the Only Begotten, i. e., life, is introduced
into us.
But we must know (for I think we ought with zealous
love of learning to pursue what brings us profit) that for
forty whole years was the typical manna supplied to them
of Israel by God, while Moses was yet with them, but
when he had attained the common termination of life, and
Jesus was now appointed the commander and general of
the Jewish ranks : he brought them over Jordan, as it is
written, and having circumcised them with hiives of stone 8
and brought them into the land of promise, he at length
arranged that they should be fed with bread, the all-wise
God having now stayed His gift of manna. Thus (for the
type shall now be transferred to the truer) when Moses
was shrouded 9 , that is, when the types of the worship after
the Law were brought to nought, and Christ appeared to
us, the true Jesus (for He saved His people from their sins),
then we crossed the Jordan, then received the spiritual cir-
cumcision through the teaching of the twelve stones, that is
of the holy disciples, of whom if is written in the Prophets
that the holy stones are rolled upon His land. For the holy
stones going about and running over the whole earth, are
of a surety these, through whom also we were circumcised
with the circumcision made without hands in Spirit, i. e.,
through faith. When then we were called to the kingdom
of Heaven by Christ (for this and nought else, I deem, it
pointeth to, that some entered into the land of promise),
then the typical manna no longer belongeth to us (for not
by the letter of Moses are we any longer nourished) but
the Bread from Heaven, i. e., Christ, nourishing us unto
eternal life, both through the supply of the Holy Ghost,
and the participation of His Own Flesh, which infuseth
into us the participation of God, and effaceth the deadness
that cometh from the ancient curse.
Never hunger a gift superior to Moses'.
37;
He that cometh to Me shall not hunger, and he that believeth Chap. 6.
on Me shall never thirst.
There is herein again something concealed which we
must say. For it is the wont of the Saviour Christ, not
to. contend with the praises of the saints, but on the con-
trary to crown them with glorious honours. But when
certain of the more ignorant folk, not perceiving how great
His excellence over them, offer them a superior glory, then
does He to their great profit bring them to a meeter idea,
while they consider Who the Only-Begotten is, and that He-
will full surely surpass by incomparable Excellencies. But
not over clear does He make His Discourse to this effect,
but somewhat obscure and free from any boast, and yet
by consideration of or comparison of the works it forcibly
takes hold on the vote of superiority. For instance, He was
discoursing one time with the woman of Samaria, to whom
He promised to give living water ; and the woman under-
standing nought of the things spoken said, Art Thou greater Supra iv.
than our father Jacob who gave us the well ? But when
the Saviour wished to persuade her that He was both
greater than he, and in no slight degree more worthy of
belief, He proceeds to the difference between the water,
and says, Whosoever drinlceth of this water shall thirst again,
but whosoever drinlceth of the water that I shall give him, it lb. 13, 14.
shall he in him a ivell of water springing up into everlasting
life. And what thence does He give to understand but
surely this, that the Giver of more excellent gifts must
needs be surely Himself more excellent than he with whom
was the comparison ? Some such method then of leading
and instruction He uses now too. For since the Jews
were behaving haughtily towards Him, and durst think
big l , putting forward on all occasions their Lawgiver i ^ya.
Moses, and often asserting that they ought to follow his ^ff '
ordinances rather than Christ's, thinking that the supply
of manna and the gushing forth of water from the rock,
were most reasonable proof of his superiority over all, and
over our Saviour Jesus Christ Himself, needs He did
return to His wonted plan, and does not say downright,
376 Christ's Body our Life. Firm resolve, not
Book 3.
c. vi. 35.
3 evKoyiav
S. Cyril's
frequent
name for
the Eu-
charist.
4 wtiroi-
5 ev\oyl-
that He is superior to Moses, by reason of the unbridled
daring of His hearers, and their being most exceeding
prone 2 to wrath; but He comes to this very thing that is
marvelled at, and by comparison of it with the greater,
proves that it is small. For he that cometh to Me (He
says) shall never hunger and he that believeth on Me shall
never thirst. Yea (saith He) I too will agree with you
that the manna was given through Moses, but they that
did eat thereof hungered. I will grant that out of the
womb of the rocks was given forth unto you water, but
they who drank thirsted, and the aforesaid gift wrought
them some little temporary enjoyment; but he that com-
eth to Me shall never hunger, and he that "believeth on Me
shall never thirst.
What then doth Christ promise ? Nothing corruptible,
but rather that Blessing 3 in the participation of His Holy
Flesh and Blood, which restoreth man wholly to incorrup-
tion, so that he should need none of the things which drive
off the death of the flesh, food (I mean) and drink. It
seems that He here calls water, the Sanctification through
the Spirit, or the Divine and Holy Ghost Himself, often so
named by the Divine Scriptures. The Holy Body of Christ
then giveth life to those in whom It is, and holdeth them
together unto incorruption, being commingled with our
bodies. For it is conceived of as the Body of none other,
but of Him which is by Nature life, having in itself the
whole virtue of the united Word, and inqualitied 4 , yea or
rather, fulfilled with His effectuating Might, through which
all things are quickened and retained in being. But since
these things are so, let them who have now been bap-
tized and have tasted the Divine Grace, know, that if
they go sluggishly or hardly at all into the Churches,
and for a long time keep away from the Eucharistic gift 5
through Christ, and feign a pernicious reverence, in that
they will not partake of Him sacramentally, they exclude
themselves from eternal life, in that they decline to be
quickened; and this their refusal, albeit seeming haply to be
the fruit of reverence, is turned into a snare and an offence.
.
keeping away from Eucharist, our duty. Disfavour to unbelief. 377
For rather ought they urgently to gather up their implanted
power and purpose,' that so they may be resolute in clear-
ing away siu, and essay to live a life most comely, and so
hasten with all boldness to the participation of Life. But
since Satan is manifold in his wiles, he never suffers them
to think that they ought to be soberminded, but after
having defiled them with evils, persuades them to shrink
from the very grace, whereby it were likely, that they re-
covering from the pleasure that leads to vice, as from wine
and drunkenness, should see and consider what is for their
good. Breaking off therefore his bond, and shaking off
the yoke cast upon us from his tyranny, let us serve the
Lord with fear, as it is written, and through temperance
shew ourselves superior to the pleasures of the flesh and
approach to that Divine and Heavenly Grace, and mount
up unto the holy Participation of Christ; for thus, thus
shall we overcome the deceit of the devil, and, having be-
come partakers of the Divine Nature, shall mount up to life
and incorruption.
Chap. 6.
c. vi. 36.
Ps. ii. 11.
2 S. Pet
i4.
36 But I said unto you that ye have both seen Me and believe
not.
By many words doth He struggle with them, and in
every way urge them to salvation by faith. But He was
not ignorant, as God, that they would run off to unbelief, as
their sister or intimate foster sister, and would regard as
nought, Him who calleth them to life. In order then
that they might know that Jesus was not ignorant what
manner of men they would be found, or rather, to speak
more fittingly, that they might learn that they were under
the Divine wrath, He charges them again, But I said unto
you that ye have both seen Me and believe not. I foreknew
(says He) and clearly foretold, that ye would surely remain
hard, and keeping fast hold of your cherished disobedience,
ye would be left without share in My gifts. And when
did Christ say any thing of this kind? remember Him
saying to the blessed prophet Isaiah, Go and tell this I i a vi
people, Hear ye in hearing and understand not, and looking
n\
378
Jews without excuse. Christ grieved.
Book 3.
c. vi. 37.
Ml
cf. Prov.
v. 22.
Supra
ver. 15.
cf. Wis-
dom xiii.
5.
look and see not, for the heart of this people is waxen fat.
Will not the word be shewn to be true by these things also
which are before us ? for they saw, they saw that the Lord
was by Nature God, when He fed a multitude exceeding
number which came unto Him with five barley loaves, and
two small fishes, which He brake up. But they have seen
and believe not, by reason of the blindness which like a mist
hath come upon their understandings from the Divine
wrath. For they were (I suppose) without doubt worthy
to undergo this, for that they, caught in innumerable
stumblings, and fast holden in the indissoluble bands of
their transgressions, received not when He came Him who
had power to loose them. For this cause was the heart of
this people made fat.
But that the multitude of the Jews saw by the great-
ness of the sign that Jesus was by Nature God, you will
understand full well by this too. For marvelling at what
was done, as the Evangelist says above, they sought to
seize Sim to make Him a King. No excuse then for their
folly is left unto the Jews. For astonished (and with
much reason) at the Divine signs, and coming from the
works proportionably to the Might of Him Who worketh,
they wellnigh, shudder at their readiness to believe, and
spring back from good habits, readily making a summer-
set as it were into the very depths of perdition.
37
Supra
ver. 36.
All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me,
It did not behove the Lord simply to say, Ye have both
seen Me and believe not, but it was necessary that He
should bring in besides the reason of their blindness, that
they might learn that they had fallen under the Divine
displeasure. Therefore as a skilful physician He both
shews them their weakness, and reveals the cause of it,
not in order that they on learning it may remain quiet
in it, but that they may by every means appease the Lord
of all, Who is grieved at them, i. e,, for just causes. For
He would never be grieved unjustly, nor would He Who
knows how to give righteous judgment have given any
All intimates calling of Gentile Church.
379
such judgment upon them, were not reason calling Him
thereto, from all sides hasting unto the duty of accusal.
The Saviour hereby affirmed that everything should come
to Him, which God the Father gave Him; not as though
He were unable to bring believers to Himself, for this He
would have accomplished very easily if He had so willed,
according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue
all things to Himself, as Paul saith : but since it seemed
somehow necessary and more fit, to say that they who were
in ignorance were illumined by the Divine Nature, He
again as Man attributes to the Father the operation, as to
things more God-befitting. For so was His wont to do,
as we have often said. But it is probable that when He
says that all that He giveth Him shall be brought to Him
by God the Father, He points to the people of the Gentiles
now about full soon to believe on Him. It is the word of
one skilfully 7 threatening, that both they shall fall away
from grace, and that in their stead shall come in all who
of the Gentiles are brought by the goodness of God the
Father, to the Son, as to Him Who is by Nature Saviour
and Lifegiving, that they, partaking of the Blessing 8 from
Him, may be made partakers of the Divine Nature, and be
thus brought back to incorruption and life, and be re-
formed unto the pristine fashior* of our nature. As though
one should bring a sick man to a physician, that he might
drive away the sickness that has fallen upon him, so we
say that God the Father brings to the Son those who are
worthy salvation from Him. Bitter then and full of des-
truction is hardness of heart to them that have it. There-
fore doth the word of prophecy chide the Jews, crying
aloud, Be ye circumcised to God, and circumcise the hard-
ness of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of
Jerusalem. Yet not for them, but for us rather hath God
the Father kept the circumcision in the heart, namely that
which is through the Holy Ghost, wrought according to
the rites of him who is a Jew inwardly. It is then right to
flee from their disobedience, and with all zeal to renounce
hardness of heart, and to reform unto a more toward dis-
Chap. 6.
c. vi. 37.
Phil. iii.
21.
7 tv(pvS>s
8 (v\oyi-
as, the
Eucharist
Jer. iv. 4.
LXX.
Rom.
29.
380
Out means Doom.
Book 3. position, if we would avert the wrath that was upon them
unto destruction.
Jer. xxii.
28—30
LXX.
9 (KKripv-
cf. S.
Matth.
iii. i2.
1 Cor. ii.
9.
S. Matth
xiii. 47,
48.
and him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.
He says that conversion through faith will not be pro-
fitless unto them that come to Him. For He had to shew
that the being brought by God the Father was a most
desirable thing, and productive of ten thousand goods.
Things most excellent then (saith He) shall be theirs, who
through the grace from above are called to Me and come.
For I will not cast out him that cometh, that is I will not
discard him as an unprofitable vessel, as is said through
one of the Prophets, Jechonias was despised, as a vessel
whereof there is no use, he was cast away, and cast forth
into a land which he knew not. Earth, earth, hear the word
of the Lord, write ye this man a man proscribed. He shall
not then be proscribed 9 (saith He) nor cast forth, as one
despised, nor shall he abide without share of Mine regard,
but shall be gathered up into My garner, and shall dwell
in the heavenly mansions, and shall see himself possessed
of every hope beyond understanding of man. For eye hath
not seen nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God prepared for them that love Him.
It is probable that the wordS, I will not cast out him that
cometh to Me signify moreover, that the believer, and he
that cometh to the Divine Grace, shall not be delivered
over to the judgment. For you will find that the word
out, has some such meaning, as in that parable in the blessed
Matthew. For (saith He) the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto
a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind,
which having brought up and dragged to the shore, they
gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. For
that the good are gathered into the Divine and heavenly
Courts, we shall understand by His saying that the good
were gathered into vessels : and by the unprofitable being
cast away, we shall see that the ungodly shall fall away
from all good, and go away into judgment. When then
Christ says, Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast
Some will be cast out.
381
out, let us understand that the people which cometh unto Chap. g.
Him through faith shall never fall into torment. Most
wisely does He seem to me in these words to veil a threat
against those most abandoned men, that if any will not
turn with all speed to obedience, they shall be deprived
of all good, and be excluded even against their will from
His Friendship. For wherein He promises not to cast out
him that cometh, He in the same signifieth that He will
surely cast out him that cometh not.
Cyril Archbishop of Alexandria on the Gospel according
to John, Book the third.
CHAPTERS IN THE FOURTH BOOK.
i f
4
I I-
! '<■■ i
1. That in nothing is the Son inferior to God the Father, because
lie is of Him by Nature, although He be said by some to be sub-
ject, on the words, 1 came down from Heaven not to do Mine
own Will, but the Will of the Father That sent Me. Herein
is also a most useful discourse upon the Precious Cross of Christ.
2. That the Holy Body of Christ is Life-giving, on the words I am
the Bread of Life, &c. wherein He speaks of His own Body as
of Bread.
3. That the Son is not a partaker of life from any other, but rather
Life by Nature, as being begotten of God the Father who is
Life by Nature, on the words, As the Living Father sent Me
and I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, he too shall live
by Me.
4. That a type of Christ was the holy Tabernacle which led the
people in the wilderness and that the ark that was in it and the
lamp and the altar, well as that of incense, as that of sacrifice
signified Christ Himself, on the words, To whom shall we go ?
Thou hast the words of eternal life.
5. On the feast of tabernacles, that it signifies the restitution of the
hope due to the Saints, and the resurrection from the dead, on
the words, Now the Jews' feast of tabernacles was at hand.
6. A dissertation upon the rest of the Sabbath, manifoldly shewing
of what it is significant, on the words, If a man on the Sabbath
day receive circumcision, are ye angry at Me, because I made
a man every whit whole on the Sabbath day ?
7. A dissertation upon the circumcision on the eighth day, mani-
foldly shewing of what it is significant, on the words, If a man on
the Sabbath day receive circumcision, fyc.
OUR FATHER AMONG THE SAINTS
CYRIL
Archbishop of Alexandria
GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
That in nothing is the Son inferior to God the Father, because He is
of Him by Nature, although He be said by some to be subject.
38 Because I have come down from heaven, not to do Mine Own
39 Will but the Will of the Father That sent Me. And this is
the Will of Him which sent Me, that of all which He hath
given Me I should lose none of it, but should raise it tip at
the last day.
This passage will seem hard to a person who considers
it superficially 1 , and not far removed from offence regard- 1k " tA
ing the faith, so that they even expect us hence to fall
into difficulties hard to be overcome, which come from our
opponents. But there is nothing at all hard herein, for
all things are plain to them that understand, as it is writ- p r?v.
ten, and right to them that find knowledge, that is to those
who piously study to interpret and understand the mys-
teries contained in the Divine Scriptures. In these words
then Christ gives us a kind of proof and manifest assur-
ance that he that cometh to Him shall not be cast out.
For for this cause (saith He) I came down from Heaven,
that is, I became Man according to the good pleasure of
God the Father, and refused not to be employed in all but
undesired works, until I should attain for them that he-
ft
pop
384
The Passion willed and willed not.
Book 4.
vi. 38, 39,
s !
II
S. Matth.
xxvi. 39.
lieve on Me eternal life and the resurrection from the dead,
having destroyed the power of death. What then was this
that Christ both, willed and willed not a ? Dishonour from
the Jews, revilings, insults, contumelies, scourgings, spit-
in gs, and yet more, false witnesses, and last of all, the
death of the Body. These things for our sakes Christ
willingly underwent, but if He could without suffering
them have accomplished His Desire for us, He would not
have willed to suffer. But since the Jews were surely
and inevitably going to adventure the things done against
Him, He accepts the Suffering, He makes what He willed
not His Will, for the value sake of His Passion, God
the Father agreeing with Him, and co-approving that He
should readily undergo all things for the salvation of all.
Herein specially do we see the boundless goodness of the
Divine Nature, in that It refuseth not to make that which
is spurned, Its choice for our sakes. But that the suffer-
ing on the Cross was unwilled by our Saviour Christ, yet
willed for our sakes and the Good Pleasure of God the
Father, you will hence understand. For when He was
about to ascend thereunto, He made His addresses to God,
saying, that is, in the form of prayer, Father, if it be pos-
sible, let this Cup pass from Me ; nevertheless, not as I will,
but as Thou. For that in that He is God the Word, Im-
mortal and Incorruptible, and Life Itself by Nature, He
could not shudder at death, I think is most clear to all :
yet made in Flesh He suffers the Flesh to undergo things
proper to it, and permits it to shudder at death when now
at its doors, that He may be shewn to be in truth Man ;
therefore He says, If it be possible, let this Gup pass from
Me. If it may be (He says) Father, that I, without suffer-
ing death, may gain life for them that have fallen thereinto
if death may die without My dying, in the Flesh that is,
let this cup (He says) pass from Me ; but since it will not
take place (He says) otherwise, not as I will, but as Thou.
Thou seest how powerless human nature is found, even in
Christ Himself, as far as it is concerned : but it is brought
a See this treated of by S. Cyril in [p. 131 Greek.]
his fifth Book against Nestorius chap. 3.
The Passion willed and unrvilled.
385
back through the Word united with it unto God-befitting Chap. i.
, ° -, . , • -, , i ! vi. 38, 39.
undauntedness and is re-tramed to noble purpose, so as
not to commit itself to what seems good to its own will,
but rather to follow the Divine Aim, and readily to run
to whatever the Law of its Creator calls us. That we say
these things truly, you may learn from that too which
is subjoined, For the spirit indeed (He saith) is willing, lb. 41.
but the flesh is weak. For Christ was not ignorant that
it is very far beneath God-befitting Dignity, to seem to
be overcome by death, and to feel the dread of it : there-
fore He subjoined to what He had said the strongest de-
fence, saying that the flesh was weak, by reason of what
befits it and belongs to it by nature ; but that the spirit
was willing, knowing that it suffered nought that could
harm. Seest thou how death was unwilled by Christ, by
reason of the Flesh, and the inglory of suffering: yet willed,
until He should have brought unto its destined consumma-
tion for the whole world the Good Pleasure of the Father,
that is, the salvation and life of all ? For doth He not
truly and indeed signify something of this kind, when
He says that this is the Will of the Father, that of those
who were brought to Him He should lose nothing, but^
should raise it up again at the last day ? For as we taught Supra
before, God the Father in His Love to man brings to
Christ as to Life and the Saviour, him that lacketh life
and salvation.
But I perceive that I am saying what pleases not the
enemy of the truth. For he will by no means agree to the
things which we have just said : but will cry out loudly,
and will come with his shrill cry, Whither are you leading
astray (you sir) our line of thought 15 and are devising intri-
cate inroads 2 of ideas and drawing away the passage from 2 {*wP°-
the truth ? You blush I suppose (says he) to confess the
involuntary subjection of the Son. For is it not hereby
also evident to us, that He will never command and bear
rule in the management of affairs, but is subject rather to
* to Oeaip'fifJ.aTa, used often by S. Cyril Gospel -words commented on.
for the line of thought suggested by the
VOL. I. C C
386
The Holy Trinity has One Will.
i ;
Book 4.
vi. 38, 39.
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the Will of the Father ? For He is conscious of so coming
short of Equality with Him, that He is constrained in some
sort to make what He wills not His Will, and to do not
altogether as seems good to Him, but rather what pleases
the Father. And do not tell me (says he) dragging the
expression into the Incarnation 3 , It is as Man that He is
subject. For lo, as thou seest, He being yet God and
bare Word and unentangled with Flesh, came down from
Heaven, and before He was at all clothed with the form of
a servant, was subject to the Father, i. e., as His Superior
and Ruler.
With dread words, good sir, as you surely deem, and
swift-coursing exceedingly do you overrun us 4 , yet are
they words that go not straight forward but are scared out
of the Kings beaten highway; and having left (as the
Greek proverb hath it) the carriage-way, you are pressing
forward upon precipices and rocks. For vainly do ye main-
tain against us that the Son obeys the Father, ever speak-
ing as though any of them who deem aright thought that
one ought to hold the contrary, and were not rather deter-
mined to agree with you herein. For we do not conceive
of the Holy and Consubstantial Trinity as ever divided
against Itself, or cleft into diverse opinions, or that the
Father (may be) or the Son or the Holy Ghost are severed
unto what seems good to each individually, but T